Sunday 27: 16:10β16:25 β 19:25β19:45
NB : today, the women stage will finish one hour before the men stage starts.
The Tour is back in Paris, but for the first time, a climb up Montmartre is included in the Champs ΓlysΓ©es loop.
Ruling point (art. 20.b): if it is/starts raining, the times are taken on the first/subsequent passage over the finish ligne.
I recall reading somewhere that there used to be small amounts of prize money allocated for minor positions in the sprints, which is part of the reason riders would contest them even when there was no tactical reason to do so. I'm not sure if that's still the case, but I do wonder if there are other factors like that at play. The riders you mentioned are both from smaller teams, so maybe the outside chance of their team earning a small amount of points or money is worth it for them. This also explains why Coquard is always contesting those sprints despite never being close to winning them or the Green Jersey.
Ah yeah, the barbecue budget (prize money). Here they are:
Each Intermediate sprints:
Mountain:
There's a bit of money at the end, beyond the jersey and the UCI points for the first 3, even though it drops sharply between the podium and the 4^th^place.
Points classification (mountain is the same):
So basically, when they are stuck in such rankings, they only fight for 500 β¬ extra. But yeah, scoring the daily 500 β¬ and paying attention not to fall beyond the 8^th^ place is worth the small effort.
Concerning Coquard, there is that, but I think there are also two other factors.
I think that in the beginning he always goes for the green jersey or at least the point classification podium in the long run, in the hope that other sprinters will abandon; and they often do, as they are more often involved and crashes, and have more trouble going through the mountain. Unfortunately for him, this last point is less and less true, as nobody is kicked out by delays any more.
The last factor is that he is a bit old-school, in the sense that he tries to give his best all the time, he 'grinds'; even though he knows that his best doesn't allow him much hope any more, it can be seen as some professional conscientiousness as well (especially in the context of his team).