Good bye “Purito”
175 riders started stage 21 in Chantilly. Chris Froome celebrated his third Tour de France victory. Joaquim “Purito” Rodriguez, 7th on GC at the age of 37, was given the green light to enter the Champs-Elysées alone in the lead to salute the crowd before retiring at the end of this year. French champion Arthur Vichot (FDJ) gave the go to the real race and an eight-man breakaway was formed with 50km to go: Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Lawson Craddock (Cannondale-Drapac), Markus Burghardt (BMC), Daniel Teklehaimanot (DiData), Jérémy Roy (FDJ), Jan Barta (Bora), Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) and Brice Feillu (Fortuneo-Vital Concept).
Kittel and Coquard in trouble
Burghardt was ejected from the leading group due to a mechanical. Marcel Kittel (Etixx-Quick Step) also had a mechanical with 35km to go. The German who had won the Champs-Elysées in 2013 and 2014 was forced to a solo chase whereas his team-mate Tony Martin pulled out due to a left knee injury. The seven escapees had a maximum of 25 seconds lead. Luke Rowe and Wout Poels (Sky) showed off and joined them at the front with 18km to go. As the breakaway got reined in, Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) counter attacked. He was caught by Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) with 12km to go. It was all together again 6.5km before the end. Bryan Coquard (Direct Energie) had a flat tyre with 2.5km to go. Lotto-Soudal did the most impressive work at the front of the peloton and André Greipel was smart enough to mark Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) and pass him right on time while Peter Sagan was coming fast from behind. Riders representing 12 different teams and 10 nations have won the 21 stages of the 103rd Tour de France.
