[ritchiebaby]

After a dismally boring bike "race" through the streets of Paris today, only enlivened by Yohann Offriedo meeting his family and Cyril Gaultier making a marriage proposal, the charge to the finish ended in a stirring win by Dylan Groenewegen with Andre Greipel 2nd and Edvald Boasson Hagen 3rd. The first 120 riders were all given the same time as the winner, so my choice way down the field was just as fast as the winner!    Kristoff was 5th, Matthews 11th and Van Avermaet 50th.

The final positions were as follows:-
Yellow Jersey
Chris Froome - 86h 20m 55s
Rigoberto Uran - +54s
Romain Bardet - +2m 20s

Green Jersey
Michael Matthews - 370 pts
Andre Greipel - 234 pts
Edvald Boasson Hagen - 220 pts

Polka Dot Jersey
Warren Barguil - 169 pts
Primoz Roglic - 80 pts
Thomas De Gendt - 64 pts

White Jersey
Simon Yates - 86h 27m 9s
Louis Meintjes - +2m 6s
Emanuel Buchmann - +27m 7s

Team
Team Sky - 259h 21m 6s
AG2R La Mondiale - +7m 14s
Trek-Segafredo - +1h 44m 46s

Super Combative Rider
Warren Barguil

After all that, here's my observations on this year's Tour.
1. Please ditch the last day procession and "respect" for the Yellow Jersey and make it a race.  
2. Please stop the practice of giving all the riders finishing in a long straggly group the same time as the first one. In the Time Trials, they can time riders to a thousandth of a second. Surely they can manage to time the other stages to the nearest second.  
3. Please apply the rules to all the riders and be consistent in the interpretation.    
4. Congratulations to Chris Froome for winning 3 TdFs in a row and for the 4th time in all. Also to Team Sky who have now won 5 of the last six.  
5. Congratulations to ITV4 for their excellent commentary and summaries of the action, especially their knowledgeable studio guests. My favourites were the excellent Pippa York (probably better known as the 80s/90s British rider, Robert Millar) and Barry Hoban (another British rider, from the 60s/70s)  
6. Brickbats to ITV4 for consistently guessing some important move was about to happen by taking an advertising break.  
7. Finally, congratulations to all the riders who raced for an average of over 4 hours each day for 21 days out of 23 in all conditions - and on the 2 rest days they probably went out for a 4 hour training spin. Unlike our little darling overpaid prima donna footballers who complain bitterly about having to play 5 90-minute games of football in 2 weeks - WIMPS!

[themaclad]

Watched coverage on Eurosport also took advertising breaks at odd times but did enjoy the commentary of Karlton Cole with his slightly non PC remarks

[Lord Snooty]

Strange event. The only event I know where the competitors drink champagne from a glass during the race rather than spray it all over each other at the end.

[themaclad]

My type of sport, action and booze