Why does the Final Stage have to be Ceremonial?

[maxsolomon]

Other sports don't just mail the final minutes in! Cmon you wimps! Let's see some effort! ;-)

[Awsi Dooger]

1. The one exception I remember

Was when they concluded the Tour with a time trial. That was incredibly dramatic and I think LeMond narrowly pulled it out, maybe late '80s.

[HuckleB]

2. It's just reality.

Tour organizers now want it to end in Paris every year, and they don't want to end on a time trial, like it did back in '89, when LeMond won it all on the last day. It's too flat in th area for anyone to make up much time, as the teams will protect their leaders and their leads, thus it has become ceremonial, except for the sprinters. The green jersey has been won on the last day more than once in recent tours.

[bmbmd]

3. Well, Floyd does lead by fifty-nine seconds.

I doubt if anyone could catch him.

[enough]

4. According to this, that's a pretty small lead.

But everyone seems to assume he will win.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4065636.html

TIGHTEST TOURS

If there are no changes today, the 59-second difference between Floyd Landis and Oscar Pereiro would become the Tour's fifth smallest margin of victory, moving ahead of Lance Armstrong's 61-second victory over Jan Ullrich in 2003. The closest Tour finishes:

• 8 seconds, 1989: Greg Lemond def. Laurent Fignon.

• 40 seconds, 1968: Jan Janssen def. Herman Van Springel.

• 48 seconds, 1987: Stephen Roche def. Pedro Delgado.

• 55 seconds, 1964: Jacques Anquetil def. Raymond

[northzax]

5. well, he did win

but the 29 second lead might as well be an hour on this stage. you simply cannot make up this kind of time on a fairly short flat stage. a time trial is one thing, but with the peleton and all the riders having their teams around them, it's not really possible. The only way to do it is by having a disaster, like a massive crash or serious technical problems, and no one wants the race to end on something like that.

[HuckleB]

6. But it's a big lead for the type of stage on the last day.

It's much too much time to make up on that stage. A TT or a mountain stage would be different, but the peloton wouldn't let one of the leaders go on a break on a stage like this.

[PatsFan2004]

7. Trying to break away from the peleton of riders on a flat

route is very difficult. The riders at the front of a large peleton break the air resistance for the other riders who get some rest while drafting. The other riders then take turns breaking the air. Anyone who tries to breakaway from the peleton has to break the air resistance on their own or in a small team. A small team will tire out before a large peleton, thus the "impossibility" of gaining much advantage on the last day's flat route.