2012 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20#Stage 20
(38,3 km / h)
Not awarded
The 20th and last stage of the 2012 Tour de France was held on 22 July 2012 and led more than 120 miles from Rambouillet to Paris on the circular course of the Avenue des Champs- Élysées. There were two climbs of the fourth category.
Route
The shortest stage of this year's tour took in a northeasterly direction through the departments of Yvelines, Essonne and Hauts -de-Seine. The start was at the park of the castle Rambouillet. After crossing the Regional Natural Park Haute Vallée de Chevreuse followed at Saint- Rémy -lès- Chevreuse and Château Fort in quick succession, the last two mountain stages of the Tour. About Viroflay and Boulogne- Billancourt riders reach Paris. Following the right bank of the Seine, they reached the traditional round course on the Champs -Elysees, which had to be traveled eight times. On the third round of the intermediate sprint was extended.
Race course
153 of the original 198 riders took to the start. As is usual for the last leg of a tour, the first half of the race was marked by a very low pace. The driver took the time to talk to each other or to pose for photos. Thomas Voeckler and Rubén Plaza secured the last climbs. George Hincapie, sole with 17 Tour appearances record holder, led the field on the Champs- Élysées.
With the start of the first final round, the pace increased significantly. In the second round Danilo Hondo and Jens Voigt tore out of the box. You could go out for a few seconds ahead, but were overtaken again soon after the intermediate sprint. In the fourth round, there was another breakaway. For Voigt Sébastien Minard, Lars Bak, Anders Lund, Marcus Burghardt, Bram Tankink, Maxim Iglinski, Nicolas Edet, Jean -Marc Marino, Alyaksandr Kuschynski, Rui Costa and Karsten Kroon joined.
The twelve -man lead group was able to pull a maximum lead of 30 seconds, but fell apart in the seventh round. At the top left only Voigt, Minard and Costa, who defended themselves against the collection by the field. Finally, they were on the last lap, three kilometers from the finish obtained. The Team Sky sat at the front of the field to launch the sprint for Mark Cavendish. This could prevail with a bike length ahead of Peter Sagan and thus won for the fourth time in a row, the final stage of the Tour.