The Virtual Tour de France on Zwift finishes, just like the real Tour de France, on the Champs Elysees. Will we see a sprinter win as would normally be the case, or will Chris Froome manage to escape to victory?
The final day of the Virtual Tour de France should, in our eyes, start with a meandering 60kms or so of Champagne sipping and team photos where Richie Porte nearly takes down his whole team.
The riders will skip all of that in favour of getting straight into the racing. The route takes both the men’s and women’s pelotons around the Arc de Triomphe, before hurtling down the Champs Elysees, darting down through the underpass beside the Louvre and heading up the Rue de Rivoli to the Place de la Concorde. It’s then a mad dash to the line for the sprinters.
In a shock leadership decision, Team Ineos’ four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome missed out on selection for yesterday’s crucial mountain stage, instead being sent to race the flat, cobbled Champs Elysees stage today. Poor old Froome is going to have to slog it out with the sprinters if he wants to take the stage.
Listening to Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe on the pair’s (excellent) podcast, Watt’s Occuring (butt), it also transpires that Froome is meant to be on a rest day today. The team, including Froome, Thomas and Rowe are currently at an altitude training camp on Mount Tiede, so Froome will have the added issue of the thin air.
Who will win and take home the Maillot Jaune? Let us know your predictions for the stage and GC in the comments below.
Men’s Teams
- AG2R La Mondiale
- Arkéa Samsic
- Alpecin-Fenix
- Astana Pro Team
- B&B Hotels-Vital Concept
- Team Bahrain McLaren
- Bora Hansgrohe
- CCC Team
- Team Cofidis
- Circus-Wanty Gobert
- Deceuninck – Quick-Step
- EF Education First Pro Cycling
- Groupama-FDJ
- Israel Start-Up Nation
- Team INEOS
- Team Jumbo-Visma
- Lotto-Soudal
- Mitchelton-SCOTT
- NTT Pro Cycling
- Rally Cycling
- Team Sunweb
- TOTAL Direct Énergie
- Trek-Segafredo
Women’s Teams
- Alé BTC Ljubljana
- Team Arkéa
- Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team
- CANYON//SRAM Racing
- CCC-Liv Team
- Ceratizit – WNT Pro Cycling
- Drops
- FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
- Lotto Soudal Ladies
- Mitchelton-SCOTT
Brammeiers' comments are probably factually correct but the tone isn't acceptable....
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and then to be asked to comment on it! and yet, here I am
Punch being the operative word.