The final stage of this year’s Tour de France will include a visit to Montmartre on route to the traditional finish on the Champs-Élysées, it was announced on Wednesday.
No specific route information is currently known, but the Tour's organisers, ASO, confirmed that the parcours would include an ascent of the Butte de Montmartre cobbled climb, used in the 2024 Paris Olympic road races last year, before the race then passes beneath Sacré-Cœur. Full details will be announced later this month.
Last August, the Olympic road races took on multiple ascents of the Monmartre climb before finishing in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The route proved popular, with thousands of spectators flocking to the area that sits just two kilometres north east of the Arc de Triomphe.
Speculation in January suggested ASO were considering adapting the final stage to mark the 50th anniversary of its first ever finish on the Champs-Élysées. It required approval from various stakeholders, namely the City of Paris, the Prefecture of Police and themselves.
The change to the route is unlikely to result in anything other than a bunch sprint finish for the final stage, although it could tempt some riders into attacking before the peloton reaches the finishing circuit on the Champs Élysées and Place de la Concorde.
Tradition has it that the Tour's final stage - often referred to as the sprinters's world championships - is little more than a procession until the peloton reach the finishing circuit. This route change could alter that dynamic, if not the final outcome.
"Riders will climb the Montmartre hill and pass beneath the Sacré-Cœur before battling it out on a stage that may break from the traditions established over the past 50 years in the heart of the capital," ASO said in a statement.
Remco Evenepoel launched his gold medal winning attack on the Butte de Montmartre at the Olympics before time trialling to the finish in the Trocadéro, while Kirsten Faulkner of the USA won the women’s Olympic road event.
This year's Tour de France will start in Lille on July 5. Defending champion Tadej Pogačar will once start as race favourite while Dane Jonas Vingegaard and Belgian Remco Evenepoel are expected to be his closest challengers for the yellow jersey.
