{"id":254682,"date":"2026-07-25T22:10:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T22:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/25\/the-inner-ring-tour-de-france-stage-21-preview-3\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T22:10:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T22:10:20","slug":"the-inner-ring-tour-de-france-stage-21-preview-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/25\/the-inner-ring-tour-de-france-stage-21-preview-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Inner Ring | Tour de France Stage 21 Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A final stage and abbreviated to Paris only but this won\u2019t alter the sport. A prestigious stage win awaits and potentially a duel between Tadej Poga\u010dar and Mathieu van der Poel.<\/p>\n

Stage 20 Review<\/strong>: if a \u201cgrand tour is an exercise in hierarchy\u201d to quote Antoine Blondin, or a Bayesian simulator to use science, then how much can the last mountain stage tell us? Even a day with 5,450m of vertical gain and 70 points for anyone capable of passing the marked mountain points first was probably going to confirm rather than reveal.<\/p>\n

Still, There\u2019s plenty to be said for replicating results on a day when many struggled to hoist themselves out of bed and even scaling a bridge over an autoroute<\/em> was sapping. Richard Carapaz proved he could even improve on the performances of recent days made him the rider of the day, going from a one point lead in the mountains competition to a 56 point unassailable and incontestable win in the mountains competition.<\/p>\n

Similarly Mads Pedersen hauled himself over the Alps, attacking at one point to bridge across to the breakaway and then take maximum points at the intermediate sprint to secure the green jersey, an immense ride. The Tour has it\u2019s Supercombatif prize and it\u2019s surely between Carapaz and Pedersen, probably Carapaz but there are good arguments to litigate either way.<\/p>\n

The day\u2019s breakaway was reduced to Carapaz, Sep Kuss and Jai Hindley on the lower slopes of the Col de la Sarenne. Another day, another trio starting the climb to Alpe d\u2019Huez with three and half minutes\u2019 lead. But this time Poga\u010dar wasn\u2019t in pursuit mode.<\/p>\n

The higher slopes of the Sarenne had no crowds, the road closed to spectators. It was pleasant to see the mountain like this, and no bad advert too for cyclists wanting to explore this road. But also a premonition of what awaits us after the Tour when the sport reverts to sparse crowds and silence.<\/p>\n

Kuss led over the Sarenne, but only just. Carapaz had the American in sight and was closing. Then Kuss crashed twice and the second time he was lucky there was netting on the exit of the bend, while Carapaz sped past. Despite the dirt on his kit from falling Kuss looked the fresher climber and could have reversed matters. Only Carapaz is among the cast of riders who can be impossible to bring back if they get five metres.<\/p>\n

Behind Decathlon-CMA CGM had tried to ratchet up the pace in an all-or-nothing move to dislodge Isaac del Toro off third place overall only it came to nothing with Seixas unable to sustain the move and cracking, while Del Toro had the luxury help of Tadej Poga\u010dar. Poga\u010dar could have won the stage if he wished but played butler, a high altitude Jeeves.<\/p>\n

Evenepoel attacked on the final run to Alpe d\u2019Huez, symbolic perhaps but notable as he\u2019d survived 5,000m of vertical gain, each stomp on the pedals in the final kilometres a serving to every media outlet in Belgium who\u2019d declared he was not a grand tour contender.<\/p>\n

As Poga\u010dar and Del Toro came into the finish together they were photo-bombed by Lenny Martinez who secured his fifth place overall, albeit 13 minutes down but he\u2019ll take plenty from the consistent performance and how he was one of the few to hold firm in the third week, all while having turned 23 during this year\u2019s Tour.<\/p>\n

The Route<\/strong>: \u201cOn n\u2019est pas a Thoiry, ici<\/em>\u201c. Well almost, there\u2019s a presentation in Thoiry for the crowds and host politicians but then the riders are bussed to Paris. It\u2019s 89km and laps of the 15km long Champs-Elys\u00e9es \u2013 Montmartre circuit, reduced from 133km because of a police shortage with the emergency services mobilised to help with public safety, notably in the Cap Ferret\/Arcachon area. In pure cycling terms nobody is missing out on the early parade and we might see a lap or two reserved for this before the racing begins.<\/p>\n

If the\u00a0Champs-Elys\u00e9es-Montmartre circuit already feels familiar there\u2019s still a difference as after the descent of Montmatre, the course takes the riders to the Place de l\u2019Etoile\/Arc de Triomphe and then to the Champs-Elys\u00e9es. Last year the descent led to the Place de la Concorde. The meaning here is that there\u2019s 10km to the finish from the top of Montmartre when there was 6km last year so more chance for teams to organise a chase.<\/p>\n

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The Contenders<\/strong>: the circuit has a feel of a spring classic with the repeat cobbled climbs and if it\u2019s only 89km everyone is tired and so it doesn\u2019t need 200km to make the difference.<\/p>\n

Mathieu van der Poel<\/strong> (Alpecin-PremierTech) is the obvious pick, the punch to jump away on the climb, the ability to win the sprint and he\u2019s had this stage in mind for a long time. Jasper Philipsen<\/strong> is a second card to play in the sprint.<\/p>\n

Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/strong> (UAE) got beaten here last year, one of the rare moments he lost a bike race in a straight contest. He\u2019s been talking about this stage too and this makes life harder for the sprinters as his moves will distance them. He\u2019ll get extra stimulation from going up against Van der Poel, his arch rival for the classics.<\/p>\n

Mads Pedersen<\/strong> (Lidl-Trek) ought to be tired but so far he\u2019s been a force of nature in this Tour.<\/p>\n

Olav Kooij<\/strong> (Decathlon-CMA CGM) and Biniam Girmay<\/strong> (NSN) can hope for a sprint and an opportunity.<\/p>\n

Jayco pair Michael Matthews<\/strong> and Mauro Schmid<\/strong> have a chance. Netcompany-Ineos still have chance of salvation and Filippo Ganna<\/strong> might be their best bet. There\u2019s no French stage winner so far and Romain Gr\u00e9goire<\/strong> (Groupama-FDJ) has a chance but he\u2019s looked fried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\nVan der Poel<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\nPoga\u010dar, Philipsen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/td>\nKooij, Matthews, Girmay, Schmid, Kanter<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Weather<\/strong>: sunny and 24\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

TV<\/strong>: KM0 is at 5.55pm and the finish is forecast for 7.30pm CEST<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A final stage and abbreviated to Paris only but this won\u2019t alter the sport. A prestigious stage win awaits and potentially a duel between Tadej Poga\u010dar and Mathieu van der Poel. Stage 20 Review: if a \u201cgrand tour is an exercise in hierarchy\u201d to quote Antoine Blondin, or a Bayesian simulator to use science, then […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":254683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6804],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-254682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}