Jul 26th, 10.  The final sprint into Paris confirmed the final leaders of the 2010 Tour de France where Cavendish earned the final win, Petacchi the green jersey and Contador won the top prize.

Paris glory for Contador the 2010 Champion ©Graham Watson

A delayed start to the finale

The 102.5km Stage 20, from Longjomeau to the Champs-Elysées in Paris, started late.  

It was Team RadioShack, the leaders of the team classification, turning up to race in new unapproved clothing which caused the delay.

They were wearing new black jerseys with the number "28" printed on the back to represent the 28 million people around the world living with cancer.

Race regulations do not allow a change in jersey once the Tour is underway, and the UCI jury were not in the mood to bend the rules.  

They insisted the team change back to their regulation red jerseys, which eventually occurred.  The requirement caused a long delay in proceedings on the day Lance Armstrong insists is his last day of competition.

Celebrations at the start of the race

Once the race got underway, it took awhile for the actual racing to begin. As is usual on the final day of the Tour, the first hours were spent with riders coasting along at an idle pace, toasting the events of the past three weeks and posing for photo opportunities. Only 25km were covered in the first hour.

Once the peloton arrived on the streets of Paris, Team Astana team had the honour of being the first team to cross the start/finish line. 

The sprinters' teams didn't end up chasing points at the first intermediate sprint, and instead seemed satisfied to let an escape group take the points. The eleven rider break rode hard to extend their gap to 25sec.

HTC Columbia, Team Sky and Katusha worked hard at the front of the peloton, and the escape was caught 11km before the finish.

Sprint finale

Flying to the line ©Graham Watson

As the peloton approached the 1km to go flamme rouge banner, Team Sky was on the front, with three riders driving hard for their sprinter Edvald Bossan Hagan.

Lampre then showed themselves and drove the peloton hard to put Alessandro Petacchi, current green jersey holder, into position. 

As the raging peloton swung around the final bends on the Place de la Concorde, Cervelo TestTeam's Brett Lancaster led into the final straight with Thor Hushovd sitting tight on his wheel.  Hushovd was in a good position to take the victory, but yet again he did not have the speed to finish the job.

With 200m to go, Mark Cavendish (HTC Columbia) opened up his sprint, and at that point everyone else was racing for the minor placings.

Petacchi raced for 2nd with Julian Dean (Garmin Transitions) rolling Hushovd in the final metres for third place.

Cavendish wins the most prestigious sprint finish

"I came around the last corner and I just jumped and started my sprint," said Cavendish. "It's different on the Champs-Elysées to every other sprint in the Tour de France where you kind of have to save as much energy as possible because every day is so hard. In Paris, you've got nothing to save your energy for so you just go balls-out to the line and that's kind of what I did today."

Today's victory makes five stage wins for Cavendish in this year's Tour. He now has 15 wins at the Tour from just four starts and is the only rider to have achieved back to back victories in Paris.

Petacchi wins the green jersey

With his fifth win Cavendish got to within 11 points of the green jersey, the closest he had been throughout the 2010 Tour, but Petacchi's 2nd place confirmed him as the winner of the points classification.

He is the first Italian to win the green jersey since Francesco Bitossi in 1968, the only other Italian to have won this prize.

"It's an outstanding result  which, considering the two stage victories, makes this Tour de France unforgettable," said Petacchi. "The green jersey is the best prize for the regularity of performances and results.  I always gave my best and the team was always perfect, so the victories and the results came as a consequence."

"At the beginning of the Tour the points classification was not my target but, stage by stage, I understood that I could be competitive and now I'm very happy that I decided to battle for this result."

Before today, Petacchi had never made it to the end of the Tour de France.

Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck - the two best riders of the 2010 Tour de France ©Graham Watson

Contador crowned the champion

Alberto Contador, winner of the General Classificaton, finished the stage in 81st place to secure his yellow jersey victory, his third title in the Tour.

"The three wins are all very different. The first, in 2007, had something special, precisely because that was the first."

"Last year, the context was difficult and this made it difficult."

"And this year I have had difficult moments, but I could count on a strong team. I realise that each year I gain in experience," said Contador.

"Now I am happy to enjoy this victory and I'll take a good vacation."