for attacking his teammate in the yellow jersey. The night before the time trial, Tour director Jacques Goddet came to see LeMond at dinner and warned him to watch his water bottles and other equipment, saying: "There are many who do not want you to win." LeMond heeded this advice, with his parents buying his own food. At the daily doping controls, he left his fingerprint in the sealing wax and photographed the urine bottles. According to LeMond, one rider even offered Hinault to cause a crash for LeMond, but Hinault refused. The decisive stage of the race was the following day, a time trial around Saint-Étienne. After , LeMond was eight seconds faster than Hinault. However, with raced, LeMond crashed in a right-hand corner. While he was able to get up quickly and resume, his brake rubbed on the front wheel, making it necessary to change bikes. Hinault profited from LeMond's mishap to win the stage, but managed to only claw back 25 seconds to his teammate, who finished second. Both were in a class of their own, with Hinault catching up with Zimmermann at the finish line, even though the latter had started three minutes ahead of him. Following the stage, Hinault acknowledged his defeat, stating: "After today, we won't fight any more." LeMond now led Hinault by 2:18 minutes. Stage 21 was the last to feature significant climbing, finishing at the Puy de Dôme. Hinault, now no longer trying to dislodge LeMond, instead focused on securing his lead in the mountains classification, which he did by collecting maximum points at the top of the Croix de l'Homme, the first climb of the day. Erich Maechler () won the stage, having moved clear of a leading group at the start of the final ascent. Second was Ludo Peeters (), 34 seconds behind. LeMond came in 6:06 minutes behind, in eighteenth place. Hinault, having worked for his teammate during the stage, fell back on the final climb and lost 43 seconds to LeMond, who extended his overall advantage to 3:10 minutes. Robert Millar, fighting sickness, dropped out during this stage. Guido Bontempi won the final two stages of the race, first stage 22 into Nevers, edging out Hoste and Vanderaerden in a sprint finish. On the final, ceremonial stage into Paris, LeMond crashed and Hinault made a point to personally escort him back into the field. Hinault then contested