The fans would have loved to see today’s individual time trial come down to a fight for precious seconds for the General Classification, but since Vincenzo Nibali’s Tour de France victory was assured, stage 20 was all about the battle for podium honours with only 15 seconds between second and fourth place.
For the first time in 30 years the French were able to reclaim their race with Jean-Christophe Peraud and Thibaut Pinot time trialling their way into second and third place respectively.
Tony Martin’s time trial win was as assured as Nibali’s overall victory with the current World Champion making his way over the undulating 54km course with an average speed of 48.8km/h and netting his second stage victory in this year’s Tour.
Read the full race report and results from Stage 20 of the 2014 Tour de France here.
Read the interview with Tony Martin after the race: “Today it would have been hard for anybody to fight me”.
Read the interview with Van Garderen after the race: “I have ten more years to try to win the Tour”.
Enjoy the photos from stage 20 courtesy of BrakeThrough Media (follow on Instagram and Twitter) and Cor Vos.
- Vincenzo Nibali has the overall classification wrapped up before the ITT even began. He said after the stage, “I’m very happy. I’ve felt a bit of tension today but it’s normal I guess. I wanted to do well in this time trial. It wasn’t an easy course. It was a perfect one for specialists like Tony Martin. I was looking forward to reach the finish. It required a big effort to ride the course. I’m pleased to have set the fourth best time. I haven’t realised yet how big it is to win the Tour de France. I’ll keep that for tomorrow. It’s difficult to ride the Tour but the beauty of it is to cycle on the Champs-Elysées. That’s the biggest memory I’ve kept from my first participation: the lap of honour, the enormous number of people, Paris’ monuments… I’ll try to savour my victory as much as I can. Every moment will count.”
- Recently crowned Dutch national TT champion Tom Dumoulin races to second on stage 20. He said, “The effort is very different here after 20 days of racing. It’s mentally really hard as you can’t reach the power values that you usually can, and you can’t seem to push yourself over the limit either, yet it still hurts just as much. Compared to 2013 I think I have found the Tour overall to be harder this year, but I think that is because I am stronger now and much more involved. It has been a great race though and tomorrow I will go back into my position in the pure sprint formation ago hopefully help propel Marcel to victory like last year.”
- Second overall, Jean-Christophe Perayd was over the moon on the finish line. Peraud said after the stage: “It’s an enormous satisfaction. The withdrawals of Froome and Contador opened a range of possibilities and I started dreaming about this second place. I’m happy to have achieved that goal. I have a feeling of mission accomplished and a lot of joy today.”
- Alejandro Valverde came 28th in the stage and secured fourth overall. He said after the stage: “More or less, I knew what was going on. I was informed of the gaps to my rivals. I was aware all the way long that I was losing the podium. I’ve tried to do well but my body responded ‘no’. During the last week, I’ve suffered the difficult weather conditions we’ve endured. The rain and cold have taken me down. When you give it all, you can’t have regrets. I feel sorry for my fans that I’m not on the final podium. I also would have liked to be there. But I’m happy. Fourth of the Tour de France, it’s a good result. The Tour de France is important but it’s not the only race. I’ll go to the Vuelta with ambitions too.”
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- Tony Martin was the favorite coming into the ITT on stage 20. However he acknowledged that several key names were missing but said he felt that his ride was still good enough to have beaten them if they were in the race. “A lot of guys couldn’t start today out of the real contenders, like Wiggins, like Cancellara,” he said, “but to be honest I made a really good race today. The condition is really good. I still have the power after three weeks. It is really hard to say, but I think today it would have been hard for anybody to fight me.”
- Tejay van Garderen beat Romain Bardet by only two seconds due to a puncture which moved van Garderen up to 5th place overall. “I saw that Bardet had a mechanical out there so I feel pretty bad for him,” he said. “But I think everyone throughout this Tour has had their share of bad luck. I guess it comes with the territory.” van Garderen has come in fifth place in two editions of the Tour de France now, but feels he’s still got lots of time: “I feel like I have grown a lot as a rider,” he said, when asked to compare the two fifth places. “I think the course in 2012 suited me much better than this course. This year I definitely had my share of bad luck and misfortune. I was able to fight through it, so I am really, really proud of me and my team and what we did.”
- Laurens ten Dam looking the same way he looks after most stages: shattered.
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- Tony Martin said after the race, “I was under pressure. Everyone expected me to win. But honestly, it’s a bit like that before all the time trials. I’ve learnt how to deal with this kind of pressure.”