Champagne
time! Or at least until the riders enter the centre of Paris. From here on it’s
hardcore racing for the win on Champs-Élysées and most likely it will end up in
a mass sprint.
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Showing on
Stage18 that he is still kicking and ready for the Olympics, Mark Cavendish will
be the man to beat in order to win
Sunday afternoon. For the first time in this Tour de France, Cavendish will
have a whole team able to work for him and personally I’m looking forward to
see the yellow jersey working for the World Champion…
Especially
the fact that Team Sky now finally will be able to give Cavendish his leadout
train will be an interesting factor since it will be the first they will be
competing against Lotto-Belisol in order to deliver their sprinter in the
perfect position. In the beginning of the race, Andre Greipel got everything
like he wanted and finished it off perfectly with one stage win after the
other, but I doubt it will be that easy for him on Champs-Élysées.
One of my
own jokers for the stage is Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank’s Juan José Haedo. Haedo
is a real power sprinter and not many in this sport can match his top speed on
the final meters. If Haedo manages to get on the right wheel in the final I
think he can do some damage and even though I doubt he can win the stage I
think top3 is within his reach.
If you are
looking for a super-super joker, try Luisle Sanchez or Alexander Vinokourov.
Sanchez was once again (!) denied a stage win due to Team Sky’s superiority in
the final time trial and he seems to be going very strong in the end of this
Tour. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to attack on the final laps on Champs-Élysées
and why not together with Alexander Vinkourov, who desperately tries to put his
mark on his final Tour de France. Vino already knows what it takes to cheat the
sprinters and win in Paris and I’m sure he will try to repeat that this time.
Winner
pick: Mark Cavendish
Top3 pick:
Juan José Haedo
Jokers: Luisle
Sanchez and Alexander Vinokourov
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