If it’s the final Sunday in July, we must be in Paris.

After three gruelling weeks across France, the Tour de France wraps up in the City of Light with a finale that looks anything but ceremonial. It’ll be short and fast, at least for the riders going for the stage win. Remember last year? Early on, the riders with no interest in contesting the finale (and with rain pouring down) had a pretty relaxed time cruising around the course.

Stage 21: Short but sweet

Because of wildfire-related security demands elsewhere in France, organizers have shortened the stage to just 88.7 km. The traditional approach into Paris has been removed, with riders transferred into the capital before racing begins. So much for the usual champagne procession and photo ops while the peloton rolls along at 30 km/h.

Once underway, they’ll complete seven laps of the Champs-Élysées circuit before tackling three finishing loops, each featuring the Côte de la Butte Montmartre. It’s going to sting some already tired legs.

Montmartre

The nasty cobbled climb 1.1 km at 5.9 per cent and for the boys in France go up a final time just over 10 km from the finish. That’s quite a bit further from the line than last year’s edition, leaving more room for attacks. Or, for a chase.

The debut of the Montmartre finale last year completely changed the character of the final stage. Instead of a routine bunch sprint, the repeated climbs split the race and rewarded aggressive riders.

Plus, it was awesome to watch, even if the pure sprinters didn’t think so.

Mathieu van der Poel starts among the favourites. The Dutch star has the explosive power and bike-handling skills needed for this type of finish, while Alpecin can also play the Jasper Philipsen card if the race comes back together. More likely, though, this is a day tailor-made for Van der Poel. His longtime rival Wout van Aert produced a brilliant victory here last year, but he isn’t racing in 2026, as we all know.

Will Pogi go for it?

Yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar is another obvious contender. Even with the yellow jersey all but secured, the Slovenian rarely passes up an opportunity to win, and he’s repeatedly shown he can match the best Classics riders on short, steep climbs. He hinted that if he feels good, he’ll give it a go.

Remember, Pogačar already has 26 Tour stage wins. And if you think about it, realistically, he could have 29. He gifted one to Isaac Del Toro, effectively handed another to Remco Evenepoel, and didn’t chase yesterday’s stage either. Instead he stayed with his Mexican teammate to help secure a podium finish. Given his ride on Alpe d’Huez, when he made four minutes back in 14 km, surely he could have done something similar on the small side of the mountain, and caught Richard Carapaz (again.)

As you recall, Mark Cavendish still owns the all-time Tour record with 35 stage victories, but the world champion is now only nine away. At his current pace, a few more Tours could see him surpass that number. Which is, well, crazy. Cav joked once about Pogi beating the record…it was funny then.

Other favourites

Mads Pedersen, Remco Evenepoel, Tom Pidcock and Quinn Simmons could all be in the mix as well. Imagine Simmons winning? (An American in Paris, as it were.) Here’s an idea, if this is Julian Alaphilippe’s last Tour…a win on Sunday would be spectacular.

You can tune into the last day of racing at the Tour de France on FloBikes.com at 9:55 a.m. EDT. Canadian Cycling Magazine will have a full report after, too. Don’t forget, the Tour de France Femmes starts next week too! The start lists are being confirmed but expect a large Canadian contingent.

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