Stage 21 of 21. It's time for the finale. 120.4km in which the majority are laps in front of the Champs Elysees. A final chance for the sprinters to take a stage win. Demare has already got the Green Jersey won but Groenewegen (8th), Houle (5th) and Kamberaj (4th) could all move themselves up the classification. I would also expect a few riders try their luck for some TV time and hope of a famous victory against the odds.
Only 2 riders on the attack early on and they have a 1'36 gap after 8km. It's Brkic and Monk.
The Peloton are on the circuit and have just passed the finish line for the first time. Demare, for show maybe, took 3rd at the intermediate sprint.
60km still for our two leaders and their gap is 2'07.
The gap for the front 2 is down to 1'20 with 40km to go. The work being done by Aegon, Puma-SAP and MOL. Festina keeping numbers up the front to protect Lecuisinier in case of a high pace in the final kilometres.
20km to the line and the gap only 42 seconds.
The catch is made with 11km to go. The sprinters and their lead-outs are jostling for positions at the front of the Peloton which isn't moving slowly.
We fast forward to 3km to go and the sprint is being launched! Groenewegen on the left-hand side has Zardini dragging him forward. Their other 3 riders not much help right now. On the right-hand side Demare has an unusual lead-out rider in Madouas. In the middle Lo Cicero still has Dina and Kalf in front of him. The independents up here are Hofstetter, Contreras and the ever-present Kamberaj.
A rather chaotic right hander sees Groenewegen the furthest forward of the sprinters with 2km to go. Demare lost his support man and is looking for the wheel of the Dutchman. Lo Cicero still has his two supporting riders.
1.5km now and the Aegon duo remain ahead with Groenewegen not wanting to go too early. The MOL train has swung across to the left with Kalf still ahead of Lo Cicero. Demare on the wheel of the Italian but with Kamberaj on his wheel. Hofstetter just behind him. Contreras in the middle has a line of sprinters behind him who may make a late burst from deep: Banaszek Houle Ackermann Stepniak Cavendish Cisse
Groenewgen starts his sprint with 1.3km to go. Lo Cicero has made the same decision which will force others into doing the same.
900m to hold on for the Dutchman! On the left it's the big guns of Lo Cicero, Demare and Kamberaj. On the right it's Houle, Ackermann and Stepniak.
500m for Groenewegen but it's not looking too good for him with those, especially on the right of the road, are moving at pace!
400m to go and Groenewegen won't be winning this one. Demare and Kamberaj are looking the best at the moment but the others in here are definitely threatening a very late run!
And it's Kamberaj who wins yet another stage of this edition of the Tour de France. An insanely good performance from him in the sprints as he has, surprisingly, been the most consistent of them.
Hofstetter actually pips Demare on the line. A very surprise result from the Frenchman!
Contreras steals 4th from Banaszek with Cisse in 6th.
Houle, Groenewegen and Ackermann round out the Top 9.
No gaps in the Peloton today so there will be no changes in the GC!
It's one of the moments sprinters dream of and it's come true for Xhuliano Kamberaj who wins the final stage of the 2021 Tour de France under the Champs Elysees!
His Manager spoke very nicely about him after his efforts on Stage 19 and shared a lot about the time and effort that has gone into preparing him for this moment and to achieve his and the team's goal of having a French rider win France's Grand Tour. It wasn't the all-dominating effort many expected but Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier has won the Tour de France with a time gap of 2'33. It's a monumental one for France too who themselves haven't had a Tour de France Winner since the inaugural Pro Tour season back in 2007!
He may not have lived up to expectations in the first week where he was pretty absent in the sprinters but he absolutely dominated Week 2 and picked up stage win after stage win which meant he had this one wrapped up pretty early on and ended with a 77 point gap. A very well deserved Green Jersey for Arnaud Demare. Yet another jersey for the French to be proud of!
A pretty dominant display in the Mountain breakaways from Isostar, who could have seen yet another French jersey winner, but it was his team mate who showed all of his class, despite his young age winning the Polka Dots by 55 points! Kevin Inkelaar is our King of the Mountains.
A very unlikely double jersey winner but, given his courage and strength that he showed during the Mountains both in Week 2 and Week 3, you can't say it isn't deserved! Kevin Inkelaar takes home the White Jersey for the best Young Rider with a gap of 8'53 to 2nd place.
A classification that saw multiple leaders and gaps varying a lot from day to day but, in the end, it's a 3rd classification win for Isostar-Specialized with a 3'55 gap to 2nd. What a Tour for them!
Spoiler
Thank you all for following along for the last 3 weeks or so. I hope you all enjoyed the reports and were able to enjoy the race, despite some interesting AI at times. I have very much appreciated the comments throughout
le Tour de France - Stage 21 
