When Mark Cavendish decided to exit the Tour de France on the second rest-day he left the door to the Champs Elysées wide open. The Dimension Data rider was the dominant sprinter of this race and in his absence the sprinters who had been feeding off scraps had one final chance to get something out of the race.
Unlike Cavendish, they'd all trekked over three tortuous Alpine stages to get here, and the opportunity wasn't going to be passed up lightly.
In the end it was André Greipel who emerged victorious for the second year in a row to extend his remarkable run of winning a stage in each and every Grand Tour he's ridden since 2008.
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"I can't describe it. I'm just super proud of what we've achieved today," said the German. "I've raced for three weeks for that. Another stage win at the Tour de France – it's wonderful."
Peter Sagan – who else? – was second, while Alexander Kristoff finished third again to make it a fifth barren Grand Tour.
Two of the biggest favourites, Marcel Kittel and Bryan Coquard, didn't contest the sprint at all. They both suffered untimely mechanicals and while the German was a picture of fury, flinging a defunct wheel into the road, a quietly downcast Coquard rolled the last 3km shaking his head.
— ITV Cycling (@itvcycling) July 24, 2016
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