Saturday brought the shortest race in all of the tour, consisting of a mere 54 kilometer race from Bergerac to Périgueux. However, there was good reason for this as this was the day of the famed time trial race. An interesting fact is that the time trial has been performed in Périgueux three times previously.
Time trials are so exciting due to the fact that anyone can pass the leader at any time and have victory given and taken from them in the blink of an eye. In just 15 seconds, racers have gone from being squarely in second place to dead last.
However, Nibali performed a truly remarkable feat today being over 7 minutes and 10 seconds ahead of the second place champion, Pinot. Nibali is now practically assured to win the Tour de France this year because of this event. The winner of the time trial was Tony Martin and this is the only time trial event of the race. Martin’s rival was a full minute and a half behind him in the race, making his accomplishment noteworthy as well clocking in at 1 hour 6 minutes 21 seconds.
The entire world with be waiting with bated breath to see what the outcome of the race will be on Sunday. This is sure to be a sporting event no one will ever forget.
The Top Five for Stage 20 were:
- Tony Martin of Germany
- Tom Dumoulin of The Netherlands
- Jan Barta of Czech Republic
- Vincenzo Nibali of Italy
- Leopold Konig of Czech Republic
The Overall Leader Board as of July 26, 2014
- Vincenzo Nibali of Italy 86:37:52
- Jean-Christophe Péraud of France
- Thibaut Pinot of France
- Alejandro Valverde Belmonte of Spain
- Tejay Van Garderen of USA
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