Tour de France preview: Stage 20

Stage 20: Rambouillet to Paris Champs Élysées, 172km, flat

With all four major jerseys – yellow, green, polka dot and white – already determined, the traditional closing stage of the Tour is even more processional than ever this year. After the obligatory pictures of champagne for maillot jaune Bradley Wiggins and Sky being granted the traditional honour of leading the yellow jersey onto the Champs Élysées, it will be down to the sprinters to provide the final punctuation mark on the 2012 Tour after eight laps of France’s most famous boulevard.

Mark Cavendish has owned this thoroughfare for the past three years, and he’ll be keen to be first over the line yet again with the unique sight of the yellow jersey helping to lead him out. But will one of the other sprinters rain on his parade? Like Peter Sagan? Or fellow three-stage winner Andre Greipel? Or Matt Goss, the ‘Eternal Second’ of this year’s sprints? We’ll find out today.

Cycling the Alps’ interactive videos of the route can be found here.

Link: Official website

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