With the heavy climbing finished Fignon had an all but insurmountable lead over Hinault of 9:56, and LeMond was only 1:13 behind Hinault. Stage twenty-one was back to the flatlands where the always gutsy, prideful and spirited Hinault decided to work his way to the front of the pack and bang elbows with the sprinters fighting it out for the stage win. Despite the fact the Tour was lost, yet Hinault continued charging on and fighting for stage wins, is part of the reason his popularity soared even higher than it already was with racing fans during the 1984 Tour. This time however, it was the sprinter Frank Hoste winning the day beating out Kelly, Hanegraaf and Hinault. During the final ITT in stage twenty-two Fignon and Sean Kelly finished with the same time, but the tiebreaker went to Fignon giving him the official win as he claimed enough time over Hinault to put his margin of victory over 10:00. LeMond finished in 4th place, and in the process secured both the final podium position, as well as his place as a legitimate GC contender proving he could compete with the best of the best during cycling's version of the Super Bowl. During the final stage in Paris, one of the most coveted sprinter’s stages in the sport, Hoste, Kelly and the fiery Hinault once again made their way to the front of the pack during the final lap around the Champs Elysees, but none of these riders would claim the coveted prize. Instead it was the Belgian rider Eric Vanderaerden (who along with Marc Demeyer, Freddy Maertens, Michel Pollentier, Johan De Muynck and Fons de Wolf was given the impossible to live up to task of following the legend Eddy Merckx) who won the day clinching his second stage win of the Tour, and one of the highlight wins of his entire career.