Changing the final Tour de France stage in Paris is an exciting prospect but I think it should be for one year only

by January 17, 2025

written by January 17, 2025

Other than the final ten kilometres or so, is there really any point in watching the final stage of the Tour de France in Paris? That’s the question many of my non-cycling friends have regularly put to me over the years when I would religiously tune in to the final day’s procession into the French capital. And to be fair, they probably did have a point.

There’s rarely any exciting racing in any shape or form until the various sprint teams start to get organised ready to tee up their elected fast man for the bunch kick along the Champs-Élysées for the unofficial sprinters World Championships. Unwritten tradition dictates that the race operates in that way on the final day, but surely a bit of variety could do no harm once in a while.

This is why ASO’s reported idea to adjust the final stage of this year’s race to include the Butte Montmartre cobbled climb, made famous by the Paris Olympics road events, should be applauded, however unrealistic it may or may not be. The possibility of the Olympics circuit within Montmartre being replicated by the Tour was quickly ruled out in August by the Tour’s technical director Thierry Gouvenou, although an article in Le Parisien this week suggested that the idea isn’t dead completely.

For one, how would the riders final general classification times be calculated and would the stage then no longer be for purely ceremonial purposes? If so, whilst it is unlikely, it could mean that there is a very slim possibility that the action could literally go down to the wire in the fight for overall victory. Surely that alone is a thought that many cycling fans would relish, as would the perennial showman Tadej Pogačar if he finds himself a handful of seconds down on Jonas Vingegaard going into the final day this year.

Sprinting is rapidly evolving and changing. There are multiple riders that now regularly contest the green jersey who could probably use a cobbled climb in Montmartre to their advantage and still win the stage – Wout van Aert, Biniam Girmay and Michael Matthews being three obvious examples, although what would then be left for the more purist sprinters, the likes of Jasper Philipsen, Dylan Groenewegen and others. The answer is not a lot.

Ultimately, the prospect of change is good and should be applauded. The success of the final stages in and around Nice last year showed that an adaptation to the course, enforced or not, can work for the race in the future. But erasing the possibility of a bunch sprint in Paris should only be brought into play for one year only. It would make for an exciting and interesting final day once, but bringing in a spectacle like that indefinitely to the race could do more harm than it really would be worth.

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Changing the final Tour de France stage in Paris is an exciting prospect but I think it should be for one year only

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