Stage 20

The road

At the start

Longjumeau to the Champs-Élysées

Alberto Contador rides to Paris with 39 seconds on Andy Schleck, Denis Menchov third at 2:01 and Samuel Sánchez fourth at 3:40. A hundred kilometres from Longjumeau, champagne on the way in, then eight laps of the Champs-Élysées on which the only things left to win are a stage and the green jersey. Petacchi has that jersey; Mark Cavendish, with four stages, does not.

How it was won

1. 157 km to go

   A joke, and the same chain

   On the processional roads to Paris, Contador and Schleck stage a mock sprint for the cameras — and Schleck's chain jumps off again, and he needs a bike change. This time Contador waits for him.

2. 250 km to go

   Onto the Champs

   The peloton reaches the Place de la Concorde together and the last fifty kilometres of a brutal Tour become eight laps of a boulevard.

3. 3At the line

   Cavendish, five for five

   Cavendish puts five bike lengths into Petacchi and Julian Dean for a fifth stage of this Tour and a second straight win on the Champs-Élysées — and Petacchi still takes the green jersey, and Anthony Charteau the mountains. Contador is crowned for a third time in Paris; the title will later be stripped from him and awarded to Andy Schleck.

The result