What I mean is for example, someone has the maglia rosa then in the last stage where races are basically decided someone makes a huge gap and wins the GC and taking the jersey, not being able to wear it really because the race is over
24 comments · 92% upvoted · other discussions
Hesjedal won the 2012 Giro on the final stage which was a time trial. I am guessing you are asking about non-time trial stages though.
Parade stages like we see these days are a relative new invention. For many years the last day was full on racing. In 1947 Jean Robic won the Tour on the last day after not having been in the yellow jersey for a single second of racing.
With this relatively modern style final day (short flat stage with a finishing circuit) it is more less impossible- the team with the leader into the final day will be very alert to any sort of sly attack. When the final day is a time trial (less common these days) it is certainly possible. As already mentioned the 1989 Tour is the classic- though things may have been very different that day if Delgado had turned up to the start on time three weeks earlier!
The Giro 2009. Menchov was 20 seconds ahead of Di Luca before the last stage, which was a 15km TT in Rome.
Later Di Luca was disqualified
I remember that, Menchov crashed in the last 2/3 kilometers. Nail biter!
I'd have to look it up, but there was a Vuelta that Kelly was in that some dodgy things happened with some Spanish riders going off the front, the motorbikes reporting a different time gap, and a rider from the UK lost as a result.
Wasn't the UK rider Robert Millar?
Cadel Evans took the yellow jersey from Andy Schleck on the second to last day in 2011. The stage was a time trial and the day before the peloton entered Paris.
You probably won't find too many grand tours decided on the last day. I know in the tour the last day is almost ceremonial. No one attacks and the stage goes to the sprinters.
Not for the win but Vinokourov overhauled Leipheimer for 5th in the 2005 Tour when he won the stage on the Champs-Élysées out-foxing the sprinters
The 1989 tour had an individual time trial for the last stage, and Greg LeMond won the stage by 58 seconds and the tour by 8.
POTATO_IN_MY_DINNER 3 points · Jun 2014 · :z: Z
Isnt there a theory somewhere that said if fignon cut his ponytail off he might have won? Dunno if it was a joke or not
niklasluhmann 3 points · Jun 2014
It is also the first time that Aero handlebars which had been known from triathlon were used in the Tour. The only rider using them was Greg LeMond.
POTATO_IN_MY_DINNER 4 points · Jun 2014 · :z: Z
love the way you can see the coke can shims in that pic
omgkev 2 points · Jun 2014 · Canada
There was that video posted here or on /r/bicycling the other day where they did an aero test of a beard vs no beard, and it was something like 1 second difference over a 40 km course. It probably would have been closer!
Pubocyno 2 points · Jun 2014 · :Norway: Norway
I remember watching this and really felt bad for Fignon.
omgkev 3 points · Jun 2014 · Canada
I watched it just recently, and aside from the wacky TT bike, LeMond was in spectacular form compared to Fignon.
Pubocyno 2 points · Jun 2014 · :Norway: Norway
He won fair and square, but when you're in France, watching the race with a lot of other french people; You normally don't cheer for the american.
niklasluhmann 2 points · Jun 2014
I want to remind everyone that Laurent Fignon isn't only the guy who lost the tour by 8 seconds but also a guy who won the Tour twice.
omgkev 1 points · Jun 2014 · Canada
You don't come within 8 seconds without having some serious chops.