With a 2:05 buffer over second-placed Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb), Team Sky's Geraint Thomas should – should – have enough of an advantage to hold the Dutchman off over Saturday's 31km individual time trial on stage 20.
Dumoulin is, of course, the reigning time trial world champion, and won the opening time trial stage at this year's Giro d'Italia. But Thomas, remember, is the current British time trial champion, and has two Olympic golds and three Worlds titles in the team pursuit on the track to his name – not to mention his win in the opening time trial stage at last year's Tour.
Barring technical problem or accident, the two should be a good match for each other on Saturday's stage.
ADVERTISEMENT
Final time trials at the Tour de France in recent years have, however, occasionally changed the whole outcome of the race – and none more famously than in 1989 when the USA's Greg LeMond overhauled a 50-second deficit to French rival Laurent Fignon to win the Tour by just eight seconds.
That time trial was run as the final stage of the '89 Tour, but the last TT tends to be on either the race's penultimate day – as it is this year – or within the last few days of the Tour's arrival in Paris, in an attempt to keep an element of suspense going in the final week.
Tour winners have often proved themselves to be the best rider over the course of almost three weeks, and so they inevitably arrive at that final time trial with a healthy cushion over their closest rivals.
2011: Evans overpowers Andy Schleck in final time trial
1990: LeMond storms to Tour victory at Lac de Vassivière
1989: LeMond overhauls Fignon on final stage TT
1987: Roche gets the better of Delgado thanks to final TT
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/last-minute-tour-de-france-wins-from-recent-history
No comments:
Post a Comment