After 17 painful days of riding and two rest days to reflect on their lack of success, it was shaping up to be a very disappointing hundredth Tour de France for the host nation.
With their best-placed GC rider, Jean-Christophe Peraud, crashing heavily both in training and again in the individual time trial in stage 17, they started yesterday’s eighteenth stage with little optimism.
However, riding before an estimated 500,000 spectators on the iconic Alpe d’Huez ascent provides its own motivation for a Frenchman.
Ag2r-La Mondiale’s Christophe Riblon conquered the famous climb – twice – to write his name into Tour de France history.
With just three stages remaining, the centennial edition of cycling’s greatest race has certainly lived up to its billing.
Read what riders including yellow jersey Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish, David Millar and Stuart O’Grady made of the thrilling stage.
