It is the penultimate stage of the 2021 Tour de France and it should be the last stage to have any impact on the GC. We will be keeping a close eye on the battles throughout the Top 15 or so in the GC as there are many places to be decided today. Current GC Leader, Lecuisinier is the top favourite for this stage along with Kritskiy and Pluchkin.
GC
1st
Lecuisinier
-
2nd
Sicard
+ 1'51
3rd
Hirt
+ 2'58
4th
Pluchkin
+ 3'40
5th
Eastman
+ 3'44
6th
Roglic
+ 4'04
7th
Choi
+ 4'09
8th
Chiarello
+ 5'04
9th
Olivier
+ 5'05
10th
Barguil
+ 5'11
11th
Yates
+ 6'16
12th
Bennett
+ 7'13
13th
Kritskiy
+ 7'25
14th
Godoy
+ 7'26
15th
Bongiorno
+ 8'41
Belevics is out of the blocks early today but he sets a very good marker time of 46'26.
Turek is the next strong TT rider through the course and he sets a time of 45'46, 40 seconds quicker!
De Bod was quite high on the favourites list for today's stage and he shows us why as he sets the new fastest time of 45'31.
Jack Bobridge is a very respectable TT rider but maybe we haven't given him enough credit! He actually sets the new best time of 45'25.
Figueiredo is the first of a strong trio of Generali riders and he sets the new best time by 17 seconds for a time of 45'07.
With all Top 15 riders through the first checkpoint, this is how it's looking so far. A few stand-outs but none of them leading at the moment.
GC
CP 1
1st
Lecuisinier
-
+ 11"
2nd
Sicard
+ 1'51
+ 27"
3rd
Hirt
+ 2'58
+ 27"
4th
Pluchkin
+ 3'40
+ 35"
5th
Eastman
+ 3'44
+ 17"
6th
Roglic
+ 4'04
+ 30"
7th
Choi
+ 4'09
+ 34"
8th
Chiarello
+ 5'04
+ 30"
9th
Olivier
+ 5'05
+ 47"
10th
Barguil
+ 5'11
+ 45"
11th
Yates
+ 6'16
+ 40"
12th
Bennett
+ 7'13
+ 1'15
13th
Kritskiy
+ 7'25
+ 10"
14th
Godoy
+ 7'26
+ 1'27
15th
Bongiorno
+ 8'41
+ 59"
His team mate couldn't hold on for long as Ludvigsson beats him by a few seconds for the new best of 45'03.
Dyball is 3rd of this trio which puts him in provisional 4th.
Bongiorno is through the line and he's + 2'35. He won't be moving anywhere today.
Final Checkpoint reached by all riders and this is the situation. Most notably, Lecuisinier has made up the 11 second gap and is level on time going into the final third of today's stage. Could he break his stage winning duck?
GC
CP 1
CP 2
1st
Lecuisinier
-
+ 11"
-
2nd
Sicard
+ 1'51
+ 27"
+ 29"
3rd
Hirt
+ 2'58
+ 27"
+ 30"
4th
Pluchkin
+ 3'40
+ 35"
+ 50"
5th
Eastman
+ 3'44
+ 17"
+ 19"
6th
Roglic
+ 4'04
+ 30"
+ 45"
7th
Choi
+ 4'09
+ 34"
+ 53"
8th
Chiarello
+ 5'04
+ 30"
+ 49"
9th
Olivier
+ 5'05
+ 47"
+ 1'16
10th
Barguil
+ 5'11
+ 45"
+ 1'15
11th
Yates
+ 6'16
+ 40"
+ 1'06
12th
Bennett
+ 7'13
+ 1'15
+ 2'09
13th
Kritskiy
+ 7'25
+ 10"
+ 16"
14th
Godoy
+ 7'26
+ 1'27
+ 2'35
15th
Bongiorno
+ 8'41
+ 59"
+ 1'43
Godoy ends the day 4 minutes behind the provisional leading time. He may actually lose a spot.
Kritskiy is through the line 2nd, only 3 seconds behind Ludvigsson! He could move a long way up the GC today.
Bennett isn't a particular good TT rider and will drop a place as he is + 3'12.
Yates almost catches Bennett on the line but it's still a solid time for the Brit @ + 1'19.
Barguil is + 1'32. Not a bad time from the Frenchman but unlikely he'll be climbing anywhere.
Olivier is + 1'34 which should be enough to remain in 9th.
Chiarello is provisional 10th on the stage @ + 47". A solid time but he's too far behind those in front of him in the GC to gain any places.
Choi is 13th @ + 57". He'll only gain if Roglic has had a poor final third.
Roglic with a good final sector as he is provisional 8th @ + 41". He may actually even move past Pluchkin who isn't having the best time of it today.
Eastman has a very strong finish to the stage as he sets the same time as the stage leader but is 2nd. He is definitely in line to make some moves when this is all over!
Pluchkin is 15th @ + 53". Not the best TT from the Moldovan which is disappointing. He will drop down to 5th.
Hirt would have been fairly happy going into this stage as he wasn't favourite to move up or down and he does all he needs to do as he is provisional 6th @ + 22".
Sicard is 5th @ + 20" which will be more than enough for him to consolidate his 2nd place.
Lecuisinier has put in a very quick final third of the stage to SET THE NEW BEST TIME. He has left it until the final GC stage of the race but the Frenchman has finally won a stage and dominantly so with a winning time of 44'41 being 21 seconds better than anyone else.
Lecuisinier will enjoy this one and his Manager will be happy that he's shown he has the goods when it mattered. Ludvigsson with a very solid 2nd with the same time as Eastman in 3rd. Kritskiy is then 4th ahead of today's surprise package, Figueiredo. Sicard is the 3rd from his team in the Top 10 as he is 6th. Bobridge with a good ride for 7th. Hirt 8th ahead of another Generali rider in Dyball. De Bod was one of the first riders on the road today and he managed to hold onto 10th.
(Festina) Lecuisinier takes a 2'33 lead into the final stage so, barring disaster, the Festina team can enjoy tomorrow's ride. Sicard and Hirt remain 2nd and 3rd. Eastman the only mover in the Top 5 as he is up into 4th. Pluchkin drops one into 5th. The rest of the Top 10 stays exactly the same. Kritskiy the other mover in the Top 15 went from 13th to 11th.
All other classifications remain the same. The only notable movement is Lecuisinier who moves into 2nd in the Points Classification. With tomorrow's stage favouring the sprinters, he should at the very least take 4th.
le Tour de France - Stage 20 Report 
