Tour de France Tour de France 2025 Stage 21: Mantes-la-Ville – Paris (132.3k)

Page 2 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Apr 8, 2023
5,599
6,544
16,180
Will we still get the yellow jersey and team quaffing champers on the run in as that might make things more interesting?
 
  • Love
Reactions: E_F_
Jan 10, 2019
6,679
9,911
18,180
Politt gonna pace the peloton untill 6km to go while drinking champagne. So we just get a normal sprint on the Champs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: search
Feb 24, 2020
1,154
1,784
8,680
I still expect a sprint but Merlier and Milan might struggle and miss lucidity for good positioning and/or energy to finish strong. I can see Meeus taking his second in Paris. Van Aert would be a good bet for second.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CPT. Z
May 29, 2019
11,154
11,675
23,180
Rogla will take a sip of champagne and after doing that he will hand over the glass to Pogi and ultimately to go full gas till the finish line.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: SHAD0W93
Oct 13, 2021
2,570
3,317
11,180
A national trauma?
Probably, but I was thinking the other day about rotating the last stage of the Tour on a cycle basis over 4 years
1-Normal Champs sprint
2-Montmarte classic type stsge
3-Timetrial on the Champs
4-Road Stage in Big City with Hills/Mountains(Nice, Grenoble)

Would never happen but would keep the last stage fresh and give all riders a chance to win in the final stage over the course of one Olympic cycle .
 
May 3, 2010
4,487
4,563
21,180
They give a chance of rain after 3 PM. Does that mean they can neutralize the GC with 71 km to go, when they cross the line for the first time? I wouldn't mind if the GC positions were frozen, because no one wants a crash on the final day to decide the result, or a situation where they decide to wait for a GC rider out of sportsmanship. In this case it doesn't really matter, because the gaps between the top 3 are huge, but imagine if they do this again next year and the second is less than 20 seconds behind... If they freeze the GC at 71 before the finish, the Côte du Pavé des Gardes (700m at 7.7%) would suddenly be 15.5 km before the recorded finish. After that they're doing three small, traditional laps and three big laps with the Montmartre climb, which is at 6 km from the actual finish.

I used to enjoy the traditional final stage back in the 80s and 90s, with the champaign, the jokes etc. I remember the sprint victories of Vanderaerden, Van Poppel, Abdoujaparov, Museeuw and Steels. Jeff Pierce was the maverick who eluded a sprint in 1987. However in the current century it became a boring procession, although there were still some nice stage wins by Steegmans, Vinokourov and Kittel.

So what I'm hoping for is no GC trouble, but a lot of action for the stage win. It could be like a kind of Flemish semi-classic. Unfortunately many of the specialists are absent (Van der Poel, Evenepoel, Pedersen, Ganna...) or in doubtful shape (Van Aert, Girmay, De Lie, Asgreen...). I don't think Pogacar will bother, because the Montmartre climb isn't steep enough and he's homesick. So who's left? A sprint with Merlier, Milan, Meeus and/or Groves is still possible, but I'm hoping for attacks by guys like Wellens, Campenaerts, Powless, Simmons etc. Several French riders will probably attack to please the crowd: Lenny Martinez, Alaphilippe etc. Hopefully there won't be any big crashes and we'll get an exciting race.
 
Last edited: