The sprinters had one last chance to play on the Champs Elysees, and after a brilliant leadout by his team Gert Steegmans mastered the chaotic gallop to the line to salvage the Tour for Quick Step.
No change to the overall - though the final day of the Tour was marred by the announcement that Dmitri Fofonov had tested positive after Stage 18, and he left the Champs Elysees in the company of the gendarmes.
Though Fofonov was credited with a finish, I have removed him from the standings because he will be disqualified, and he earned a 50-point penalty in the Pool.
That brings our total number of finishers to 144 -- picked by no fewer than four entrants: former leader Grimpeur George, natbikes.com, Hamburglars and Mhairi Gilmore.
The remainder of the results are listed below. Of note, Mark Cavendish was the only rider to win three or more stages; Carlos Sastre had the stage win with the biggest gap to second (l'Alpe d'Huez); and just three teams finished with all riders (Euskaltel, CSC, Milram).
So, what everyone's waiting for is the final Tour Pool overall standings. While I have calculated them -- and there are some big surprises -- I am not going to publish them today for the simple reason that there are still 13 entrants that have neither paid their entry nor even acknowledged that they will pay. They are also listed below. Remember, 100% of the entry fees go to the Seenite Sports Espoir Bursary, which helps young, local cyclists achieve their goals. So, have a heart; think of the children. Think of the children!
If I haven't heard from any of these entrants by Monday evening (say, by 8 p.m.), they will be removed from the Pool results. All other teams that have said they would pay but don't pay by Wednesday evening will also be removed. So pay up -- maybe you won something!
Until tomorrow,
KW
Pool entrants who haven't paid (the Wall of Shame):
France in my Pants aka Adam Eikenberry
Alexandra Lai
Conor O'Brien
Westboro Chiropractic aka Duane Smith
K8 Scallion aka Kate Scallion
Luc Mahler
Kiwi Mike aka Mike Leach
VIPER aka Nick Vipond
Paul Skafel
Peter Metuzals
Remi Berube
Rob Grondin
Sandy Fulton
Stage: 21
Description: Flat
Date: Sunday July 27
Start/finish: Étampes/Paris Champs-Élysées
Distance 143 km
1st STEEGMANS Gert
2nd CIOLEK Gerald
3rd FREIRE Oscar
4th MCEWEN Robbie
5th HUSHOVD Thor
6th DEAN Julian
7th SCHUMACHER Stefan
8th FORSTER Robert
9th DUQUE Leonardo
10th HUNTER Robert
Mountains KOHL Bernhard
Mountains BICHOT Freddy
Young rider CIOLEK Gerald
Aggressive VOGONDY Nicolas
Teams QUICK STEP
Arrested FOFONOV Dmitriy
Final overall:
Team GC 1st TEAM CSC SAXO BANK
Team GC 2nd AG2R-LA MONDIALE
Team GC 3rd RABOBANK
Team GC 4th EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI
Team GC 5th SILENCE - LOTTO
Team GC 6th CAISSE D'EPARGNE
Team with all finishers EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI
Team with all finishers TEAM CSC SAXO BANK
Team with all finishers TEAM MILRAM
Green 1st FREIRE Oscar
Green 2nd HUSHOVD Thor
Green 3rd ZABEL Erik
Green 4th DUQUE Leonardo
Polka dots 1st KOHL Bernhard
Polka dots 2nd SASTRE Carlos
Polka dots 3rd SCHLECK Frank
Polka dots 4th VOECKLER Thomas
Young rider 1st SCHLECK Andy
Young rider 2nd KREUZIGER Roman
Young rider 3rd NIBALI Vincenzo
Total number of finishers 144
Lanterne rouge VANSEVENANT Wim
Rider winning 3 stages or more CAVENDISH Mark
Biggest time gap to second SASTRE Carlos
1st SASTRE Carlos
2nd EVANS Cadel
3rd KOHL Bernhard
4th MENCHOV Denis
5th VANDEVELDE Christian
6th SCHLECK Frank
7th SANCHEZ Samuel
8th KIRCHEN Kim
9th VALVERDE Alejandro
10th VALJAVEC Tadej
11th EFIMKIN Vladimir
12th SCHLECK Andy
13th KREUZIGER Roman
14th CASAR Sandy
15th MOINARD Amael
16th ASTARLOZA Mikel
17th SIUTSOU Konstantsin
18th BOTCHAROV Alexandre
19th NIBALI Vincenzo
20th GOUBERT Stephane
21st TEN DAM Laurens
22nd MONFORT Maxime
23rd POPOVYCH Yaroslav
24th SCHUMACHER Stefan
25th SZMYD Sylvester
26th BRUSEGHIN Marzio
27th DESSEL Cyril
28th KNEES Christian
29th ARROYO David
30th AERTS Mario
31st FEDRIGO Pierrick
32nd FOTHEN Markus
33rd MOERENHOUT Koos
34th HINCAPIE George
35th CARRARA Matteo
36th VOIGT Jens
37th PINEAU Jerome
38th GONZALO RAMIREZ Eduardo
39th LE MEVEL Christophe
40th LOVKVIST Thomas
41st MONCOUTIE David
42nd ZABEL Erik
43rd VELO Marco
44th ZUBELDIA Haimar
45th GUSTOV Volodymir
46th HESJEDAL Ryder
47th AUGUSTYN John-Lee
48th TIRALONGO Paolo
49th MARTINEZ Egoi
50th LOPEZ GARCIA David
51st TXURRUKA Amets
52nd DUQUE Leonardo
53rd TSCHOPP Johann
54th DUPONT Hubert
55th GUTIERREZ Jose Ivan
56th ARVESEN Kurt-Asle
57th VELITS Peter
58th DI GREGORIO Remy
59th TANKINK Bram
60th CHAVANEL Sylvain
61st SANCHEZ Luis-Leon
62nd WEENING Pieter
63rd VOGONDY Nicolas
64th CANCELLARA Fabian
65th PORTAL Nicolas
66th POZZATO Filippo
67th MILLAR David
68th POSTHUMA Joost
69th FREIRE Oscar
70th ELMIGER Martin
71st ARRIETA Jose Luis
72nd VERDUGO Gorka
73rd LE BOULANGER Yoann
74th LANG Sebastian
75th FISCHER Murilo Antoniobil
76th LOWE Trent
77th VAN DE WALLE Jurgen
78th GERRANS Simon
79th PAURIOL Remi
80th LELAY David
81st VAUGRENARD Benoît
82nd CIONI Dario
83rd FROOME Christopher
84th LEQUATRE Geoffroy
85th LEFEVRE Laurent
86th VAN SUMMEREN Johan
87th CHEULA Gianpaolo
88th BARREDO Carlos
89th CLEMENT Stef
90th PEREZ Ruben
91st MARZANO Marco
92nd SCHOLZ Ronny
93rd BALLAN Alessandro
94th PATE Danny
95th TOSATTO Matteo
96th VOECKLER Thomas
97th ROSSELER Sebastien
98th HUSHOVD Thor
99th SCHRODER BjOrn
100th FLORENCIO Xavier
101st BONNET William
102nd OROZ Juan Jose
103rd ISASI Inaki
104th MULLER Martin
105th CIOLEK Gerald
106th HUNTER Robert
107th HANSEN Adam
108th O'GRADY Stuart
109th DEAN Julian
110th STEEGMANS Gert
111th GILBERT Philippe
112th WILLEMS Frederik
113th DUMOULIN Samuel
114th COYOT Arnaud
115th FORSTER Robert
116th BONO Matteo
117th SORENSEN Nicki
118th BRARD Florent
119th BURGHARDT Marcus
120th ROY Jeremy
121st MCEWEN Robbie
122nd GRABSCH Ralf
123rd HOSTE Leif
124th DE JONGH Steven
125th HAUSSLER Heinrich
126th RIGHI Daniele
127th KUSCHYNSKI Aleksandr
128th LANCASTER Brett Daniel
129th QUINZIATO Manuel
130th LANGEVELD Sebastian
131st GERARD Arnaud
132nd FRISCHKORN William
133rd MAASKANT Martijn
134th BICHOT Freddy
135th TERPSTRA Niki
136th RIBLON Christophe
137th ENGOULVENT Jimmy
138th AUGE Stephane
139th MORI Massimiliano
140th GARCIA ACOSTA Vicente
141st SPRICK Matthieu
142nd KRAUSS Sven
143rd EISEL Bernhard
144th VANSEVENANT Wim