Tour de France 2008/21. stage

21st stage

Result of the 21st stage
Stage winner	Gert Steegmans	3:51:38 h
Second	Gerald Ciolek	equal time
Third	Óscar Freire	equal time
Fourth	Robbie McEwen	equal time
fifth	Thor Hushovd	equal time
Sixth	Julian Dean	equal time
seventh	Stefan Schumacher	equal time
Eighth	Robert Forster	equal time
Ninth	Leonardo Duque	equal time
Tenth	Robert Hunter	equal time
Most combative driver	Nicolas Vogondy
Final result after the 21st stage
Overall rating	Carlos Sastre	87:52:52 h
Second	Cadel Evans	+0: ​​58 min
Third	Bernhard Kohl	+1: 13 min
Scoring	Óscar Freire	270 pts.
Second	Thor Hushovd	220 pts.
Third	Erik Zabel	217 pts.
Mountain scoring	Bernhard Kohl	128 pts.
Second	Carlos Sastre	80 pts.
Third	Frank Schleck	80 pts.
Young talent evaluation	Andy Schleck	88:04:24 h
Second	Roman Kreuziger	+1: 27 min
Third	Vincenzo Nibali	+17: 01 min
Team evaluation	Team CSC-Saxo Bank	263: 29: 57 h
Second	ag2r La Mondiale	+15: 35 min
Third	Rabobank	+1:05:26 h

The 21st stage of the Tour de France 2008 and thus also the last stage on July 27th was 143 kilometers long and ran from Étampes to Paris / Champs-Élysées . There were two sprint classifications and two mountain classifications in the 4th category on the program.

As always, the journey began at low pace, as the CSC-Saxo Bank team and the wearers of the jerseys presented themselves to the photographers. Carlos Sastre accepted congratulations from other drivers, followed by a toast with champagne . Bernhard Kohl , who was already the winner of the mountain classification, was the first to make the first small mountain classification of the day. Freddy Bichot was the first to cross the second mountain classification, which followed only 3.5 km later. On the way to Paris the pace slowly increased. In the end, eight laps were driven on the famous Champs-Élysées. When the circuit was reached, Stéphane Augé launched the first attack, to which Nicolas Vogondy and Björn Schröder caught up, but shortly afterwards they were caught again. Shortly thereafter, the two Spaniards Xavier Florencio and José Iván Gutiérrez attacked , the latter won the first sprint classification. Then a group of five made up of Björn Schröder, Luis León Sánchez , Jérôme Pineau , Florent Brard and Vincenzo Nibali tried, but they could not hold up either. Nicolas Vogondy and Carlos Barredo drove the next attack. José Luis Arrieta tried it behind, but was quickly caught again. Barredo won the second sprint classification before the leading duo was caught up again. Then a group around Giampaolo Cheula tried it , followed by the trio Kanstanzin Siuzou , Augé and Alexander Botscharow . This then tried it alone. When he was caught, Arnaud attacked Gérard , followed by Philippe Gilbert . Sylvain Chavanel , who also tried, was swallowed from the field two km from the finish line. Afterwards, CSC said goodbye to management work and Quick Step-Innergetic took over. Gert Steegmans opened the sprint on the 400 meter long and 12 meter wide home straight and won the stage ahead of Gerald Ciolek and Óscar Freire . The sprint created a few gaps in the field, which again resulted in shifts in the seconds in the overall ranking. Cadel Evans was able to shorten his gap to Sastre to less than a minute.

Sprint ratings

• 1st intermediate sprint on the Champs-Élysées (kilometer 99) (60 m above sea level)

First	José Iván Gutiérrez	6 pts.
Second	Xavier Florencio	4 pts.
Third	Joost Posthuma	2 pts.

• 2nd intermediate sprint on the Champs-Élysées (kilometer 118.5) (60 m above sea level)

First	Carlos Barredo	6 pts.
Second	Nicolas Vogondy	4 pts.
Third	Volodymyr Hustov	2 pts.

• Target sprint on the Champs-Élysées (kilometer 143) (60 m above sea level)

First	Gert Steegmans	35 pts.
Second	Gerald Ciolek	30 pts.
Third	Óscar Freire	26 pts.
Fourth	Robbie McEwen	24 pts.
fifth	Thor Hushovd	22 pts.
Sixth	Julian Dean	20 pts.
seventh	Stefan Schumacher	19 pts.
Eighth	Robert Forster	18 pts.
Ninth	Leonardo Duque	17 pts.
Tenth	Robert Hunter	16 pts.
11.	Erik Zabel	15 pts.
12.	Alessandro Ballan	14 pts.
13.	Fabian Cancellara	13 pts.
14th	Filippo Pozzato	12 pts.
15th	Alejandro Valverde	11 pts.
16.	Geoffroy Lequatre	10 pts.
17th	Steven de Jongh	9 pts.
18th	Marco Velo	8 pts.
19th	Murilo Fischer	7 pts.
20th	Rubén Pérez	6 pts.
21st	Brett Lancaster	5 pts.
22nd	Sébastien Rosseler	4 pts.
23.	Martin Elmiger	3 pts.
24.	Cadel Evans	2 pts.
25th	Freddy Bichot	1 point

Mountain ratings

• Côte de Saint-Rémy-les-Chevreuse, category 4 (km 48) (182 m above sea level; 1.1 km at 6.3%)

First	Bernhard Kohl	3 pts.
Second	Gert Steegmans	2 pts.
Third	Bernhard Eisel	1 point

• Côte de Châteaufort, Category 4 (km 51.5) (186 m above sea level; 0.9 km at 5.6%)

First	Freddy Bichot	3 pts.
Second	Sebastian Lang	2 pts.
Third	Marco Marzano	1 point