Tour de France 2007/20. stage

Result of the 20th stage
Stage winner	Daniele Bennati	3:51:03 h (37.914 km / h)
Second	Thor Hushovd	equal time
Third	Erik Zabel	equal time
Fourth	Robert Hunter	equal time
fifth	Tom Boonen	equal time
Sixth	Sébastien Chavanel	equal time
seventh	Fabian Cancellara	equal time
Eighth	David Millar	equal time
Ninth	Robert Forster	equal time
Tenth	Manuel Quinziato	equal time
Most combative driver	Freddy Bichot
Final results after the 20th stage
Yellow jersey	Alberto Contador	91:00:26 h
Second	Cadel Evans	+ 0:23 min
Third	Levi Leipheimer	+ 0:31 min
Green jersey	Tom Boonen	256 p.
Second	Robert Hunter	234 P.
Third	Erik Zabel	232 P.
Dotted jersey	Mauricio Soler	206 P.
Second	Alberto Contador	128 P.
Third	Yaroslav Popovych	105 p.
White jersey	Alberto Contador	91:00:26 h
Second	Mauricio Soler	+ 16:51 min
Third	Amets Txurruka	+ 49:34 min
Team evaluation	Discovery Channel	273: 12: 22 h
Second	Caisse d'Epargne	+ 19:36 min
Third	Team CSC	+ 22:10 min
Most combative driver	Amets Txurruka

The 20th stage of the Tour de France 2007 on July 29th was 146 kilometers long and led the remaining 139 riders from Marcoussis , the training center of the French national rugby union team , north through the northern region of the Île-de-France , in detail through the departments of Essonne and Yvelines , from south to Paris on the Champs-Élysées . From there, the finish line was crossed eight times on the 6.5-kilometer circuit between Tuileries , Rue de Rivoli , Place de la Concorde and Place Charles de Gaulle , before the tour ended with the ninth target crossing. The tenth and, at the same time, last flat stage featured the last two mountain ratings of the tour, both classified in the fourth category.

As in previous years, the first part of the stage, which with the start in Marcoussis was supposed to remind of the upcoming Rugby Union World Cup in France , was like a leisurely stroll on which the various jersey wearers and valuation leaders posed for the cameras of the photographers and the television .

The race began when the Discovery Channel team entered the final lap on the Champs-Élysées. After the field had passed the first target section , the Frenchman Freddy Bichot launched the first attack 48 kilometers from the finish. However, the Agritubel driver was never able to break away from the peloton for more than 20 seconds and after only eight kilometers alone at the front, he was caught first by Marcus Burghardt and Vicente García Acosta and then by the field. Shortly before the end of the second round, a group of ten, consisting of Juan Antonio Flecha , Murilo Fischer , Christian Knees , Simon Gerrans , Alessandro Ballan , Ronny Scholz , Mickaël Delage , Nicolas Portal , José Iván Gutiérrez and Anthony Charteau , took the lead Race. With a maximum advantage of only 45 seconds, they stayed in the lead up to nine kilometers from the finish, before eight drivers from the main field, now led by the teams Barloworld and Crédit Agricole , were overtaken. Only the two Spaniards Flecha and Gutiérrez were able to evade the field for another seven kilometers and were made 2000 meters from the finish line. In the subsequent mass sprint of the field, the Italian Daniele Bennati secured his second stage win in the tour, followed by Thor Hushovd , who won the final stage the year before , and Erik Zabel .

The overall ranking was won by Alberto Contador, the first Spaniard since Miguel Induráin in 1995 and the youngest driver since Jan Ullrich in 1997 . Second place went to Cadel Evans , who achieved the best placement by an Australian in the history of the tour, followed by Levi Leipheimer in third place, who continued the good results of the Americans on the previous tours of France. Contador's 23-second lead over runner-up Evans was the second smallest in touring history and was only beaten by the eight seconds separating Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon in 1989 . The 31 seconds behind the third placed Leipheimer even marked the smallest gap ever between the three drivers on the podium and was 58 seconds less than the record set in the previous year among the drivers Floyd Landis , Óscar Pereiro and Andreas Klöden of 1:29 Minutes. The Belgian Tom Boonen won the green jersey for the first time with a 22-point lead over the first South African stage winner Robert Hunter . With Mauricio Soler , an up-and-coming young professional who was the third Colombian to achieve this after Luis Herrera and Santiago Botero secured himself the mountain classification . After Michael Rasmussen's expulsion , he was followed by a large margin, overall winner Contador and his teammate Jaroslaw Popowytsch . In addition to overall victory and second place in the mountain classification, Contador was also able to win the junior competition ahead of Mauricio Soler and Amets Txurruka , who was named the most combative driver of the tour the day before . For the first time in its history, the Discovery Channel team won the team standings and clearly distanced the Caisse d'Epargne and CSC teams by more than 19 minutes.

Intermediate sprints

1st intermediate sprint in Châtenay-Malabry (kilometer 74) (155 m above sea level)

First	Lilian Jégou	6 p. And 6 s
Second	Carlos Barredo	4 p. And 4 s
Third	Steven de Jongh	2 P. and 2 s

2nd intermediate sprint in Haut des Champs-Elysées (kilometer 108.5) (60 m above sea level)

First	Simon Gerrans	6 p. And 6 s
Second	Alessandro Ballan	4 p. And 4 s
Third	Nicolas Portal	2 P. and 2 s

Mountain ratings

Côte de Saint-Rémy-les-Chevreuse , category 4 (kilometer 51) (128 m above sea level)

First	Gert Steegmans	3 p.
Second	Thomas Lövkvist	2 p.
Third	Frederik Willems	1 P.

Côte de Châteaufort , category 4 (km 54.5) (136 m above sea level)

First	Gert Steegmans	3 p.
Second	Michael Albasini	2 p.
Third	Yaroslav Popovych	1 P.