2009 Tour de France – Stage 21/Final Results

July 26th, 2009 by Timothy O'Connor 6,049 views No Comment

Today’s traditional final stage began with a relaxed ride that included much camaraderie and the usual photo ops and other fun. Members of an early break took all the points in both intermediate sprints today, so Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) retained the green jersey. However, as the race heated up in Paris and the laps around the Champs-Élysées, Mark Cavendish (Columbia) worked his magic again and took his sixth stage win in this year’s Tour. His lead-out man, Mark Renshaw, was the only rider to get close to him.

The Top Five For Stage 21:

Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia – HTC
Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Columbia – HTC
Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin – Slipstream
Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Milram
Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Française des Jeux

The Top Five For The 2009 Tour de France:

Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream
Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank

Here’s a little breakdown on the progression of the various jerseys through this year’s Tour:

The Yellow Jersey, of course, goes to overall winner Alberto Contador of Astana. He has only been wearing it the last six days, though. It started out with Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank), who won the first stage and wore yellow for six days. Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R wore the jersey for eight stages after taking it from Cancellara.

The green jersey for the points competition goes to Thor Hushovd (Cervelo). The first green jersey this year went to Cancellara, who wore it for one stage. After that it went back and forth between Mark Cavendish and Hushovd, with the Briton wearing it for eight stages and the Norwegian for 11.

The red polka-dot jersey for the King of the Mountains goes to Franco Pellizotti of Liquigas. This jersey has jumped around more than any other in this Tour. Contador won it after the first stage, and it then went to Jussi Veikkanen (FdJ) for four stages. After that, Stephane Auge (Cofidis), Brice Feillu (Agritubel) and Christophe Kern (Cofidis) each wore it for one stage. Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel) was next and was all polka-dotty for 4 stages before Pellizotti took it over for the last eight stages.

The white jersey for best young rider goes to the number two in the GC, Andy Schleck, who last month turned 24. After the first stage, the white jersey went to Roman Kreuziger of Liquigas, but he only wore it two days before turning it over to Columbia’s Tony Martin. The German wore the jersey for 12 stages, with Schleck having it the final six stages.

Number one in the team rankings is Astana. They have had that honour for 13 stages. AG2R was tops five times and Saxo Bank twice.

Franco Pellizotti, the King of the Mountains, has been named the most aggressive rider overall in the Tour. Race director Jean-Francois Peschaux says it came down to Pellizotti, Andy Schleck and Jurgen van den Broeck, with Pellizotti getting the final nod.

The Lanterne Rouge, or last rider in the GC, is FdJ’s Yauheni Hutarovich. He celebrated that fact with a red hand towel stuck in the back of his helmet during today’s final stage. He may be last, but he finished the race!

Tags: 2009 Tour de Fraance, 2009 Tour de France final results, 2009 Tour de France Stage 21, alberto contador, andy schleck, Lance Armstrong, Mark Cavendish, Thor Hushovd