A mountain rating in the middle of Paris? So far, this has not been on the program of the Tour de France. But at the end on July 27, this time it will happen. The organizers are celebrating for this, but co -favorite Remco Evenepoel is skeptical.
Paris’s Olympic Games exuded a fascinating aura, and during the two extraordinary weeks there was no lack of references to special sites in the French capital. Especially the Olympic road bike race went into the history of the world’s largest sports festival as a famous, audience -intensive event. The route led several times over the Montmartre, the Paris local mountain, 130 meters high, but steeply and difficult to take in a tight tangle of alleys and streets.
During the games, the detour to Butte Montmartre was a sensational volte, the drivers and the audience, which were euphoric in the roadside on the roadside. It was a spectacle and hearing a loud enthusiasm like at a rock concert in a stadium. “We haven’t had this in the program so far. But when we saw this euphoria, it was clear to us that we wanted to try that in a similar form“, says Thierry Gouvenou, the route architect of the Tour de France. And so it will now come on July 27th.
Remco Evenepoel (blue jersey) at the games in 2024 in front of the basilica Sacré-Cœur on the Montmartre
Demolation from the tour d’honneur
The final stage of the tour, previously known as a tour d’Honneur, as a round of honor, in which the remaining participants sucked off the finish line on a short distance on the destination on the Champs-Élysées before they accelerate the pace extremely on the circuit in the heart of Paris, is now a significant tightening with a three-time detour over the Montmarten. The occasion is a round birthday: 1975, 50 years ago, the Tour of France ended for the first time on the Champs-Élysées. Therefore, the tour managers not only wanted to offer their audience the classic sprint in the center of Paris, but also offer special fun.
Since September 2024, the implementation of the Montmartre plans have been working, tour director Christian Prudhomme says in an interview with the sports show. In mid -May, the final was promised by the Paris City Prefecture and by Mayor Anne Hidalgo. “The pictures of the Olympic street race have an effect. What we got to see last summer was exceptional, unbelievable. We speak of an inheritance, the legacy of the Olympic Games. We wondered when can we do something to appreciate it, if not this July, on the occasion of the last tour stage?“, says Prudhomme. The conclusion was obvious:”We thought: let’s try the Montmartre.“
The spectators created an extraordinary atmosphere on Montmartre at the games in Paris.
This time no sprint rating?
The new route is now actually tough. First, the Peloton completes four classic loops over the Champs-élysées. Then the race leads via Rue Rivoli and the Rue Lepic covered with cobblestones on a 16 -kilometer circuit, in which the Montmartre is integrated three times with a mountain ranking. Then the Champs-élysées are passed. “After the last crossing of the Montmartre, it is only six kilometers to the finish on France’s gorgeous boulevard. So it is not sure that we will experience a sprinting“, says Prudhomme.
In the comment columns of the French sports daily “L’équipe”, in the days of the final promise for the Montmartre crossing was read much thousands of times that excitement on the last day was finally guaranteed. And no longer the sleepy images are joyful for a hedgehog bearer before turning onto the Champs-Élysées. France’s cycling favorite Julian Alaphilippe was also convinced of the new route: “It will be something very special.“His compatriot Valentin Madouas, silver medalist of the 2024 Olympic Race, assumes, “That there will be a sensational ambience”.
Final attack on the yellow jersey at the last moment?
Gouvenou knows what he is doing to the drivers and he suspects that the sprinter cannot extend an unofficial world championship of their discipline this time. Instead, the classic hunters of the spring may have a possibility “To show yourself on the last meters of the tour“. Scenarios with the last, desperate attacks on the yellow jersey are also expressly desired on the part of the tour organizers.
The Peloton on the Tour 2023 on the Champs-Élysées
But there is not only approval for the Montmartre project. Remco Evenepoel, the Olympic champion of the Paris street race and one of the tour favorites this summer, criticized the detour to the Paris hill on the final day of tour as much, especially since the character of the last stage would be completely changed. It is no longer about rolling up for the final sprint, but a really difficult daily ranking. Prudhomme replies with the pathos of a tour leader: “Cycling showed itself as a great popular sport at the Paris games on Montmartre. For me this is a symbol because the bike in the cities is becoming increasingly important. ”
In addition, Prudhomme emphasizes that this special excursion will probably remain a unique thing. The effort for security is immense and not easy to manage. That is why the promise of the prefecture and mayor Hidalgo were long in coming.