The last stage into Paris is flat.

Therefore will be a sprint finish (unless exceptional circumstances) as the teams will chase down any breakaway.

[They can do this because riding team-style using slipstreaming they can outpace any small breakaways over a distance and will therefore catch them before the end. This is why the peloton travels faster with less effort than a small group.]

In a mass finish as long as you finish within a second or so of the first bike you're given the same time as him. Hence someone finishing at the back of 150 riders in the peloton gets the same time as the winner. This is for safety; imagine all riders trying to get over the line first... chaos and serious injury.

Riders are of different abilities as well. It takes a different physique to do a long steep climb than a short ridiculously fast sprint after 150+ km. The overall winner will be the best overall rider, BUT the best way of taking time is either on long mountain stages or time trials, as by their nature they're not bunch finishes so large groups don't all get the same times. Hence the overall winner is usually a good climber who can time trial (Contador (on drugs?)) or a good time trialler who can climb (Wiggins, Indura?n, Armstrong).

Posted By: APB, Jul 22, 12:32:39