Today we turn to one of our neighbors for the mythical annual cycling race, the 108th edition of the Tour de France.
The 2021 Tour de France was held from June 26 to July 18. About 230 cyclists set off from Brest and arrived, just for some of them, on the Champs Elysees in Paris after more than 3,400 km of riding.
The route of the last Tour de France proved to be relatively difficult with, among the 21 stages on the program, numerous mountain passes through the Alps and the Pyrenees. Let’s take a look at this 108th edition of the Tour de France.
First of all, a reminder of the stages of this Tour de France 2021
- Stage 1, Saturday, June 26: Brest – Landerneau
- Stage 2, Sunday June 27: Perros-Guriec – Mûr-de-Bretagne
- Stage 3, Monday June 28: Lorient – Pontivy
- Stage 4, Tuesday June 29: Redon – Fougères
- Stage 5, Wednesday June 30: Changé – Laval (individual time trial)
- Stage 6, Thursday, July 1: Tours – Châteauroux
- Stage 7, Friday, July 2: Vierzon – Le Creusot
- Stage 8, Saturday, July 3: Oyonnax – Le Grand-Bornand
- Stage 9, Sunday, July 4: Cluses – Tignes
- Monday, July 5: rest in Tignes
- Stage 10, Tuesday, July 6: Albertville – Valence
- Stage 11, Wednesday, July 7: Sorgues – Malaucène
- Stage 12, Thursday, July 8: Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux – Nîmes
- Stage 13, Friday, July 9: Nîmes – Carcassonne
- Stage 14, Saturday, July 10: Carcassonne – Quillan
- Stage 15, Sunday, July 11: Céret – Andorre-la-Vieille
- Monday, July 12th: Rest in Andorra
- Stage 16, Tuesday, July 13: Pas de la Case – Saint-Gaudens
- Stage 17, Wednesday, July 14: Muret – Saint-Lary-Soulan
- Stage 18, Thursday, July 15: Pau – Luz-Ardiden
- Stage 19, Friday, July 16: Mourenx – Libourne
- Stage 20, Saturday, July 17: Libourne – Saint-Emilion
- Stage 21, Sunday, July 18: Chatou – Champs-Elysées, Paris
Who won the last Tour de France?
From stage 8 to the end of the Tour de France, Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar took and held the yellow jersey. Winner of the stage 5 time trial, he crushed the competition in the Pyrenees by winning at the top of the col du Portet (stage 17) and the following day at Luz-Ardien (stage 18). Thanks to his performances, he finished first overall, best climber and best young cyclist in the 2021 Tour de France. This is his second victory in the Grand Loop after the one he won the previous year in 2020.
Other riders shone in this edition of the Tour de France. Mark Cavendish, the designated sprinter of the Deceuninck-Quick Step team, won 4 stages in this edition (4th, 6th, 10th and 13th), which allowed him to finish first in the points classification. This is the second time in his career, after 2011, that he has won the green jersey in the Tour de France.
What happens to the Spanish riders in the 2021 Tour de France?
Of the 17 Spanish riders who took the start, 16 made it to the Champs Elysees. The only rider to retire was Marc Soler in the first stage, after a spectacular crash caused by a spectator.
Enric Más finished the race in 6th position, losing one position from his 2020 ranking. Pello Bilbao finished 9th after also having done the Giro, he finished the Tour de France in the top 10 for the first time. Jonathan Castroviejo finished 23rd, just ahead of Alejandro Valverde (24th), who will go to the Tokyo Olympics, as did Ion Izaguirre, who finished 26th. Tour de France debutants Cristian Rodríguez, Alex Aranburu, Rubén Fernández, Jorge Arcas and Carlos Barbero finished their race in 46th, 74th, 84th, 90th and 124th places respectively.
There are also Omar Fraile, who will finish 57th, Imanol Erviti in 67th, Víctor de la Parte in 72nd, Jesús Herrada in 87th, Iván Gracia Cortina in 94th and Carlos Verona in 101st.