Tour de France 2014: Stage 20 - Tony Martin in league of his own

Saturday July 26th, 2014 - The penutimate stage in the 2014 Tour de France is a 54 kilometres time trial on hilly terrain between Bergerac and Périgueux. As would be anyone's guess world champion Tony Martin outperforms his opponents. Young Dutchman Tom Dumoulin comes in second, whilst Jan Barta is third. A smart race by Vincenzo Nibali makes him fourth and Péraud passes Pinot in the GC, but still: two Frenchmen on the podium, party in Paris! (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 20th stage Tour de France 2014

1. Tony Martin (Ger) + 1.06.21
2. Tom Dumoulin (Nld) + 1.39
3. Jan Barta (Cze) + 1.47
4. Vincenzo Nibali (ita) + 1.58
5. Leopold König (Cze) + 2.02
6. Tejay van Garderen (USA) +2.07
7. Jean-Christophe Peraud (fra) + 2.27
8. Sylvain Chavanel (fra) + 2.36
9. Markel Irizar (spa) + 2.39
10. Daniel Oss (ita) + 2.58

12. Thibaut Pinot (fra) + 3.12

26. Romain Bardet (fra) + 4.17
28. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 4.28
55. Laurens ten Dam (nld) + 6.03
140. Bauke Mollema (nld) + 9.26

GC after stage 20th stage
1. Vincenzo Nibali (ita)
2. Jean-Christophe Peraud (fra) + 7.52
3. Thibaut Pinot (fra) + 8.24
4. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 9.55
5. Tejay van Garderen (USA) + 11.44
6. Romain Bardet (fra) + 11.46
7. Leopold König (Cze) + 14.41
8. Haimar Zubeldia (spa) + 18.12
9. Laurens ten Dam (Nld) + 18.20
10. Bauke Mollema (Nld) + 21.24
11. Pierre Rolland (fra) + 23.16
12. Fränk Schleck (lux) + 25.57
13. Jurgen Van den Broeck (bel) + 34.01

Race report
Before the start the question was whether Valverde, fourth in the overall, could be something of a thread to Pinot and Péraud. The answer came fast: not at all. 19 kilometres in the race and he was down. Péraud outperformed his younger countryman and despite a puncture, the 37-year old former mountain biker finishes second on the Tour podium this year.

Péraud’s teammate Romain Bardet had to changes bikes as well, but in this case with drastic results. Tejay van Garderen, who rode a strong time trial, is 0’02” faster in the overall and swaps places with the young Frenchman. With that the American enters the top-5.

Bauke Mollema’s performance was disastrous. He finished 140th (only 24 riders were slower), but managed to finish top-10 in the overall after all, free falling from 7th to 10th place. Leopold König took the other road – 9th at the start in Bergerac, 7th in Paris.