Final stage of Tour de France - Champs Elysees - 2010

The legend - Lance Armstrong!

As it has done for the last 35 years, the Final stage of the Tour de France 2010 played out on one of the most famous and impressive avenues in the world - The Champs Élysées. And this year’s finish was as exciting as the previous three weeks racing had been, with hordes of spectators lining the streets of Paris to witness this amazing spectacle. With a frenzied sprint to the finish line, to secure not only the stage win but to contend the wearer of the green jersey, I, like many others, found myself holding my breath, heart pounding, clinging to a tree with feet balanced precariously on the metal barriers to get the best view for my photo shots, and willing the British sprinter, Mark Cavendish, to execute his now famous sprint to cross the finish line first.

Mark Cavendish crosses the finish line winner of the final stage

Witnessing Marks victories is like witnessing magic. He is tucked in among the peleton, not really visible to the untrained eye, until seconds before the finish when he bursts out from the group like a missile and flies across the line several bike lengths ahead of the other contenders. He appears unstoppable, and unstoppable he was on Sunday securing his fifth stage win of this years tour and his second final stage victory on the Champs Élysées. He did not, however, manage to win the green jersey from Alessandro Petacchi of Italy for best overall sprinter, although there is little doubt that he will be the proud wearer of it before too long!

 The winner of this years tour had been decided in the final mountain stage in the Pyrénées a few days before, so long as there were no crashes or technical problems and Alberto Contador crossed the line on the Champs Élysées holding up two fingers and his thumbs to signify his three Tour victories over the last few years. His battle for first place over the last few weeks with the young Andy Schleck won off with Andy coming second overall and also winning, for third time, the white jersey for best young rider under 25 yrs of age.

 Alberto Contador wins the 2010 Tour de France

Muravyev celebrating RadioShack team win on Champs Elysees

 Lance Armstrong’s team, RadioShack, won the best team prize and left Lance retiring from the Tour (for the second time). His final stage was not only full of controversy, but publicity as the RadioShack team held up the final stage in Paris by 15 minutes as they attempted to wear unofficial jerseys advertising Lances’ charity Livestrong and expressing their support for millions of cancer sufferers in the world. Although this was not to be Lances Tour, there is no doubt Lance is an amazing athlete and I felt privileged to witness his last tour and to brush shoulders with him while mingling with the riders after the finish.

RadioShack win best team

Crouching Tiger enjoying RadioShack hospitalily

Wearing Lance Armstrong's charity "Livestrong" t-shirt and feeling privileged with my RadioShack invitation, not only to the pre-race celebrations but also to watch from the stands at the finish line, I managed to capture photos of some of these athletes  and enjoyed checking out and drooling over their amazing bikes! The Bugattis and Ferraris of the biking world! This was a once in a life time experience for me. This years Tour will go down as one of the most dangerous in recent history, with many early accidents and nearly half the field crashing in Stage 2 when the roads were covered with oil. The race also included long sections of cobblestones, which added to the peril.

Micaela getting up close, thanks to RadioShack