- Sep 20, 2017
- 10,849
- 20,008
- 28,180
Champagne and a bunch sprint. No other ingredients shall ever be included in the final stage of the Tour. Well, unless they do end up not finishing in Paris in 2024.
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Route description
The stage starts from La Défense Arena, which will host the swimming events at the 2024 Olympics. It’s unusually close to the Champs-Élysees – had this been twenty stages earlier, they could have had a prologue between the two. Instead, we head for the usual route through the suburbs, passing the palace of Versailles and the obligatory final KOM at Côte du Pavé des Gardes.
From here, the route heads directly into Paris, skipping the Eiffel Tower but passing through the Louvre. Immediately after this, we reach the traditional final circuit, which is used for eight-and-a-bit laps. Of course, the Champs-Élysées is an absolutely brutal ascent, handing out KOM points in the first stage of the women’s race, the men are really being done dirty by there only being an intermediate sprint here (on lap 3, don’t expect the production team to pay attention to it because they never do).
After that, all eyes on the sprint. Just a little longer.
Final kilometres
Keep in mind that they moved the finish away from the final curve last year, bumping up the final straight to 700 metres. They’ve kept that arrangement for this year.
I was actually about to write something about Paris here before I realised there’s not much point. No picture of a cycling bridge for me to add for this capital city, maybe sometime in the future considering the progress Paris is making…
And no, I won’t be repeating the bridge picture for every stage gimmick next year. Assuming I even have the time for these writeups by then. We’ll cross that bridge (pun intended) when we get there, though.
Pont Neuf, the final bridge of the Tour.
Profile
Map
Route description
The stage starts from La Défense Arena, which will host the swimming events at the 2024 Olympics. It’s unusually close to the Champs-Élysees – had this been twenty stages earlier, they could have had a prologue between the two. Instead, we head for the usual route through the suburbs, passing the palace of Versailles and the obligatory final KOM at Côte du Pavé des Gardes.
From here, the route heads directly into Paris, skipping the Eiffel Tower but passing through the Louvre. Immediately after this, we reach the traditional final circuit, which is used for eight-and-a-bit laps. Of course, the Champs-Élysées is an absolutely brutal ascent, handing out KOM points in the first stage of the women’s race, the men are really being done dirty by there only being an intermediate sprint here (on lap 3, don’t expect the production team to pay attention to it because they never do).
After that, all eyes on the sprint. Just a little longer.
Final kilometres
Keep in mind that they moved the finish away from the final curve last year, bumping up the final straight to 700 metres. They’ve kept that arrangement for this year.
I was actually about to write something about Paris here before I realised there’s not much point. No picture of a cycling bridge for me to add for this capital city, maybe sometime in the future considering the progress Paris is making…
And no, I won’t be repeating the bridge picture for every stage gimmick next year. Assuming I even have the time for these writeups by then. We’ll cross that bridge (pun intended) when we get there, though.
Pont Neuf, the final bridge of the Tour.
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