Tour de France Stage 21 BREAKAWAY REACTION: Absolute classic finale in Paris 🥳

The Breakaway team react after the final stage at the Tour de France.

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What a day. What a finale to this most beautiful of races. Wow. Valard finishing solo on the Shaw for his 10th tour to France stage win. His first since 2022 and quite rightly slamming those handlebars. He has won on the Shoise before, but not since 2021. And this to Robbie Mchuan feels like a hard earned victory, doesn’t it? D. What a victory for Walt. I mean that is absolute class by his team as well. But what Walt Fernard did on the slopes of Mog Mart up to Sakraur and the old Walt is back. He was never really gone but that mojo is back. The the power that just has oozed out of the man for years to victories that we’ve just marveled at. He’s done one of those again today. This is a stage victory that will be talked about not for years, for decades to come, maybe even into the next century. It was epic. It was. It was epic. It was iconic. And partly because there would be nowhere for Walt Venard to hide on a stage like today. He could not surprise his rivals. Of course, he was going to try to attack on the M mark. He simply look had to be the best, the fastest, the strongest of the day, didn’t he? Yeah, it was a very much man situation and uh you Pogy obviously lit up that third time and W kind of said anything you can do I can do better and went over the top and um at that point it was all over really wasn’t he? It was the only chance he would have to come back is if he really nailed that descent, really pushed it to the limit. I don’t think Pogy was prepared to do that. And um it was simply a case of the strongest man won. I feel like we’re doing you all a bit of a disservice watching at home because we’re sounding really calm, really composed, really in control. Matt White, we were screaming five minutes ago, weren’t we? We were. We were. We pic we p well we we we’ve been picking walts all all race. All race, but uh that was the win for the ages. And uh what a dramatic final for the tour to France. It was beautiful. And Robbie, I know that it’s a bit of a controversial finish including the climbs up M. We didn’t get the guaranteed sprint win. Consolation I guess that it was a sprinter of sorts who took the win anyway. But just like yesterday on a solo attack. Well, first there was talk of wow breaking with tradition. The sprinters don’t get their chance on the SHs. But I mean having not having to race it, I was open for it cuz I thought it would be a really good spectacle. When we knew it was going to rain and when it actually started every there was a collective sigh of oh no, this could turn out to be a complete fast. It just turned into an epic classic style race with transported back to Flanders in the spring. Uh the battle that we had there, but it just it just heightened everything about it. And to see Walt then take it like he did just magical. It was a stage for the ages. And it feels fitting as well, Luke, that in a tour of to France, it’s been so full of one day classic style racing that that’s exactly what we got on the final day as well. Yeah, we spoke about it being a one-day classic. That’s how we expected the race to go. And then as you looked at the, you know, after they went full gas, there was that group of 28, 30 riders. It’s exactly how it developed. As you went through, it was all classic riders. Sorry, Robbie is just salivating beside you watching this. I’m just, I’m just thinking like Wembley times Tomorrowland times Coachella times the Tour to France. Well, Hannah was up there four hours before the race even started and she said, “It just feels like a party. They’re drinking already. Half of them are drunk and Larry and it just it just really felt like a party atmosphere all day. No, that’s it. It it did feel like a party and I think that that has seeped through to the Shanise as well because there’s always a lovely atmosphere here. I don’t remember it being quite like this in the last couple of years. Certainly though, Matt, I know this is your first time seeing it from this vantage point, but they are still singing and chanting and popping confetti. There are ringing of the bells just down behind us. I mean, they’re going to be voices lost completely by the end of today. That’s what Venard’s partner there cheering on her man. It’s been such a difficult time, hasn’t it, for what? For someone of his caliber, for someone of his palaris. He’s been through a tough uh stage really, a tough phase in his career to take a win at the Giralia in the way that he did and a win here. As Robbie says, he never went anywhere, but he’s back, isn’t he? He is definitely back. But people forget that the injury he had last year that finished his season, that was not a small injury. not a small injury and to come back this year to perform the way he did. Okay, the Classics were maybe not not his best level, but to win at the Jurro, to win at the Tour to France, to help his teammate teammates along the way throughout the season. Another incredible season from our favorite Ward. Can you tell we’ve got a we’ve got a breakaway fan club here, myself and Matt? Many people in that fan club, I got to say, I think popping a bottle or two this evening. It’s our very own Jonathan Waters. Jonathan, congratulations to you and the team. Congratulations to Ben Healey, who’s not only won the Super Competivity Prize. We will see him on the podium later. Um, but obviously becoming the fourth Irishman to win the yellow jersey, to wear the yellow jersey, fourth Irishman to finish top 10, and the stage went to boot. It’s been magnificent, hasn’t it? Yeah, I mean, Ben’s obviously done an incredible job. The whole team, you know, for the three weeks, it was a very welljelled, cohesive team that came in with a very clear mission. And we didn’t we weren’t trying to do two things at once. We were very much just trying to do one thing and that was win stages and then okay we had the opportunity to take the yellow jersey and and that came our way as well. But I mean everyone across the boards they we were in pretty much every every breakaway that succeeded we were there. Can I just have a little moment? That’s Ben’s dog Olive. Yeah. And and this is from cuz Olive was shivering. So I was I I spent the last half hour snuggling with Olive so that she didn’t freeze to death from her warm. Yeah. Yeah. That was my job. I was chief dog snuggler today. She’s a very sweet dog. She I think that’s a lovely job as well as boss of the entire team. Has Olive been on the road for the whole of the tour to France? No, no, no. They she’s gone back and forth to the to their house in Spain and and uh or in Andor and then um but come in, you know, on every rest day and and uh yeah, it’s always nice to have Olive. How do you feel standing here in the Shan Lee now given given what um we had come into this race with for you guys? Richard Carropaz was supposed to be your GC hopeful fell ill, wasn’t able to make it to the start line. So you had to completely reconfigure immediately, didn’t you? Yeah. I mean, we had to pivot everything we were doing. Um, but luckily, you know, we were, we were prepared. We we knew, I mean, we had reserved sort of the best riders for the tour to France. We, you know, at the time we got a little bit of criticism for not racing our best team at the Jirro that we actually held him back for the tour, um, minus Richard, but in the end that was what really paid off. So it was We pivoted very quickly and it worked. Jonathan, one final very important question for you. When you were in our studio earlier in this race, you told me that there was some sort of an epic party being planned in the Are we invited is the question. You are you’re very much all of you are invited. It’s actually super easy to find. It’s um it’s the Cadillac uh basically their their global showroom for well European showroom, luxury showroom. I don’t know what. Anyway, it’s beautiful. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings. It’s right near uh Plondome. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings in Paris. You cannot miss it because it is a bright pink everything right now. I love that you’re literally giving us these directions to the party live on air. So, if you’re watching anywhere in Paris, you now know where anyway. It is the Cadillac showroom in downtown Paris. It’s a gorgeous building. Uh and I think that we don’t have any more spaces except I’m sorry except for us. Amazing, Jonathan. Thank you very much indeed. We’ll let you go and celebrate this evening and we’ll see you at the Cadillac showroom. Very soon. Yeah. All come by. It It’ll be great. Amazing.