Few riders have the privilege of choosing when their final Tour de France is, and even fewer are lucky enough to finish it. The Tour de France can be a cruel beast but it also has the power to give riders moments that will stick with them for the remainder of their lives.
Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) is one of those lucky few. The Spaniard, who announced his retirement on the first rest day of the Tour de France, had the pleasure of leading the peloton onto the Champs-Elysees, an honour that is usually reserved for the race winner and his teammates.
Small in stature, but big in personality, Rodriguez is a popular figure in the peloton. That several riders requested that he take them onto Paris’ most famed boulevard for, is testament to the high regard his fellow riders hold him in. “It was really, really special. It was a surprise to arrive on my own,” Rodriguez told Cyclingnews outside the Katusha bus on the Place de la Concorde after the completion of the final stage.
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“First Luis Angel Maté, the Cofidis rider, came to me and said Purito we would like you to lead us into the first lap of the [Champ-Élysées] circuit. I said no. But then Sagan said it, and then Chris Froome, and then my teammates said it. It was so beautiful to enter the circuit first. Later, in the final kilometre, I looked for Chris and I said thank you for this moment, it was such a beautiful moment.”
Rodriguez arrived at the Tour de France with the sole ambition of a top-10 finish. He was as high as third following the opening stage in the Pyrenees but dropped down to 12th after a couple of bad days in the second week. The 37-year-old was one of the few to strike out of the main group of favourites in the torrid weather conditions in Morzine on the final mountain stage a move that saw him jump back up to his final overall position of seventh.
“For me, it was a pretty normal Tour. It was logical to have some failures, it was a really hard Tour but I am really happy with my result,” Rodriguez said. “I have not enjoyed a Grand Tour as I have this Tour de France. It was a perfect team behind me. I enjoyed a lot being with my teammates. We were able to make a good result and we got a victory. I couldn’t have asked for a better Tour team.”
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