With a mass sprint in the final kms, Gert Steegmans claimed victory in the last stage of the 2008 Tour de France, ahead of Gerald Cioleck and Oscar Freir.
Spanish Carlos Sastre came in inside the peloton, only 14" behind Steegmans, but close enough to hold on to his yellow jersey, becoming the seventh Spanish rider to win the title of the Tour de France. Runner-up Cadel Evans finished seven seconds ahead of Sastre, reducing the gap in the final classification between the two to less than a minute.
The last stage of the 95th Tour de France started at a little before 2pm at a relaxed pace, with riders taking time to have fun, including swapping helmets with photographers on motorbikes. Over the first hour the riders had been tugging along at a snail's pace of 27.5km/h.
The first climb of the stage at the cote du St-Remy-de-Chevreuse was won by Bernhard Kohl, ahead of Steegmans and Bernhard Eisel.
Without any attempts to break away from the peloton, it was Freddy Bichot who took the three points at the second climb.
Nine riders of the CSC-Saxo Bank team led the peloton in the approach to the Champs-Elysees, including Carlos Sastre, Kurt-Asle Aversen, Fabian Cancellara, Volodymir Gustov, Stuart O’Grady, Andy Schleck, Frank Schleck, Nicki Sorensen and Jens Voigt.
The first sprint of the stage, at the 99km mark at the Haut des Champs-Elysees, was between Jose Ivan Gutierrez and Xavier Florencio, with Gurierrez taking the six points.
At this point, the peloton was 10" behind Florencio and Gutierrez.
Then, attack upon attack followed. Florent Brard escaped for a bit. The next attack was by Vogondy at the 107km mark. He was joined by Barredo. At 32km before the finish, the two had a 12" lead on the peloton.
Then Arrieta broke away from the peloton and tried to catch up with Barredo and Vogondy, only to be caught by the peloton minutes later. At that point, Barredo and Vogondy had a 20" lead.
Barredo and Vogondy were caught by the peloton at 117km, 10km after their break-away, but not before Barredo won the second sprint of the day before Vogondy.
Four riders, including Vansummeren, Cheula and Schumacher then attacked, but were caught within a few kilometers.
Siutsou started another attack, with Botcharov and Auge joining him. The three managed to get an 8 second advantage at 13km before the finish line.
Three kilometers later, when the peloton was about to catch the three, Alexandre Botcharov went on alone, but he was caught before the final lap.
Several short-lived attacks later, at 3.5km before the finish, Chavanel attacked. He had said he would do so in the final kilometer, but has made an early start.
His break-away didn't last long, and in a final sprint, with 250m to go, it was Steegmans who burst into the lead and crossed the finish line first.
Tour winner Sastre was quoted by letour.com as saying that “today was a really nice day today. The team has done everything to make this Tour as easy as possible for me and even as we came to Paris for the final stage, they continued to work for me. It’s a great atmosphere now and I know that relief has set in and now everyone is happy."
“There are so many Australians here because of Cadel Evans. For him to finish second again in the Tour de France… well, I feel for him. I have finished third and fourth and I know what it is to get close but I believe he has every right to be happy because he did his best,” Sastre was quoted as saying by letour.com.
