Cadel: Australia's First Tour Champion!

The Progress Report
The riders took over half an hour to roll through the 7.7km neutral zone before arriving at the site of the official start of the 21st stage of the 98th Tour de France. The final day of racing in the 2011 edition began at 3.02pm with 167 riders in the peloton. There were no climbs in the stage and the intermediate sprint came on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées with 35.5km to go. The new race leader said yesterday that all he hoped for today was “that the sun is shining in Paris”. Cadel Evans got his wish. It was fine with a temperature of about 24 degrees Celsius.
There was no early attack and the traditional festive atmosphere of the early phase of the final stage was on display with Evans posing for photos with the riders in second and third overall, as well as his BMC team-mates and numerous others in the peloton including Ivan Basso (LIQ) who shared the same coach as the rider in the yellow jersey, Aldo Sassi – who died late last year.
After 10km, Evans changed his yellow BMC bike for one in the traditional team colors. After an hour and 26 minutes of riding the peloton reached the finishing circuit on the Champs-Elysées and the BMC lead over the line for the first time.

The Attacks Start
On the second lap of the circuit, Swift (SKY) started the first successful escape. He was joined by Paulinho (RSH), Roy (FDJ), Koren (LIQ), Riblon (ALM) and Bak (THR) and they took the first points of the intermediate sprint, with Cavendish sprinting ahead of his rivals for the green jersey to take seventh 38” behind the escapees. The peloton was led by riders from the Garmin, HTC and Omega Pharma-Lotto team and, with 22km to go was 43” behind. That was the maximum gain of the escape.

Cavendish: Sprinting Perfection
Bak was the last of the escape to be caught and that happened just before the peloton dived into the tunnel leading to the Rue de Rivoli. There were several teams trying to take charge of the lead-out – Lampre, Omega Pharma-Lotto and Vacansoleil, all dabbled at setting up the sprint but they were swamped by the HTC Express in the final kilometer. Then it was the traditional line-up for the sprint: Goss then Renshaw then Cavendish and... voila! Victory number 20 was achieved. It is the third time that Cavendish has finished the Tour and he’s won in Paris each time. He is the winner of the green jersey.

An Australian First
Cadel Evans finished 56th in the final stage and is the winner of the 98th Tour de France. He stopped immediately after the finish to hug and thank all his team-mates. It is 30 years since Phil Anderson became the first non-European to wear the yellow jersey at the Tour de France and now his compatriot has taken a victory.
Andy and Fränk Schleck achieved an amazing coup: finishing second and third overall, just 1’34” and 2’30” behind the Aussie.