{"id":31986,"date":"2025-07-29T14:21:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T14:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/31986\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T14:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T14:21:09","slug":"the-new-tour-de-france-montmartre-finale-could-return-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/31986\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Tour de France Montmartre Finale Could Return in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”><\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s new-look final stage of the Tour de France<\/a> has been feted for the dramatic outcome and also the huge crowd sizes.<\/p>\n

The spectators loved it, many of the riders loved it \u2014 sprinters aside<\/a> \u2014 and the TV viewers drank it up.<\/p>\n

It seems Tour organizers ASO loved the laps of Montmartre too.<\/p>\n

First billed as a one-off, the iconic Parisian hill could be appearing again and again.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we want to continue to pass through Montmartre,\u201d Tour de France Deputy Director Pierre-Yves Thouault told Le Parisien<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe success has surpassed our hopes and, inevitably, the desire to place this new parcours into the long-term plans is there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The twisting paved climb made its pro cycling debut in the 2024 Olympic Games, with Remco Evenepoel (Belgium) and Kristen Faulkner (USA) winning the men\u2019s and women\u2019s road races.<\/p>\n

Despite the success and spectacle of that course, ASO initially dismissed suggestions<\/a> that Montmartre could feature on the final stage of the Tour.<\/p>\n

However it had a change of heart and introduced it this year.<\/p>\n

The drama of Sunday\u2019s final stage plus the jubilation of the fans has stunned ASO and others, meaning the once in a lifetime conclusion to the Tour could end up being a lot more regular than that.<\/p>\n

The sprint specialists will be disappointed if that\u2019s the case, given that the traditional laps of the Champs \u00c9lys\u00e9es were regarded as the unofficial sprinters\u2019 world championships, but, for now at least, ASO seems determined to head in this new direction.<\/p>\n

Work needs to be done first, however.<\/p>\n

\u2018Everything went well\u2026everyone liked it\u2019
\n\"TeamWout van Aert makes his winning move on the final ascent of the climb. (Photo: Etienne GARNIER \/ POOL \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

According to Le Parisien, bringing the Tour to Montmartre this year was a complicated process.<\/p>\n

The Paris City Council and the President of the Republic quickly backed the plan, but it took time to obtain the necessary administrative authorizations.<\/p>\n

Because of that, ASO said it needs to do consultations<\/p>\n

\u201cVery quickly, we will debrief, around a table, with the representatives of the city and the prefecture,\u201d Thouault said. \u201cWe will see the possible points of improvement. I am thinking in particular of the accessibility of the public in certain places. But on the whole thing, everything went very well. Everyone liked it. Both the public and the riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed videos and photos from the climbs showed riders soaking up the atmosphere. One image of Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d captured the mass of spectators and also what the experience meant to him.<\/p>\n

The climb is very narrow, something which caused some concerns beforehand. However something which helped greatly was the decision to neutralize the GC times due to rain on the circuit.<\/p>\n

This enabled riders who weren\u2019t intending or indeed able to chase the stage win, plus those concerned about danger, to sit up and spread out.<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> referenced that when he gave his thoughts on the new circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really enjoy it that much,\u201d he said in the post-race press conference. \u201cI enjoyed listening to the radio, though, while suffering on the cobbles myself. I really enjoyed listening to how the team were doing, how Wout [van Aert<\/a>] and Matteo [Jorgenson] were doing. That was nice for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thumbs up from Van Aert, but with a note of caution
\n\"PARIS,The atmosphere on Montmartre was monumental. (Photo: Catherine Steenkeste\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

His Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Van Aert had a different view.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s due in part to his performance: he pulled off one of the most impressive rides of his career, dropping Tadej Poga\u010dar and soloing in alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I did enjoy the final because it was quite selective,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was pretty quickly a small group in the front. It was how it should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys who still want to race can take the risks and be up there and go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a similar diversity of opinions amongst other riders.<\/p>\n

Both Vingegaard and Van Aert said it was important that the GC times were neutralized. Otherwise, the latter pointed out, it could have been very dangerous.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something ASO will have to consider.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is [otherwise] just impossible to create a safe race on this circuit, in my opinion,\u201d Van Aert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are let\u2019s say in 100th position you are already two minutes behind because it is so technical. So I think we should not look for that. But how it was today, you still had an exciting race to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for riders who went for the victory, that was nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The debate will go back and forth, and even more if and when ASO finalizes plans for next year.<\/p>\n

Influential figures on board
\n\"TeamThe inclusion of the climb of Montmartre was a spectacular success. (Photo: Hugo MATHY \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

So what happens next?<\/p>\n

According to Le Parisien, the initial step is the planned debrief with representatives of the city and the prefecture.<\/p>\n

Then ASO will officially submit a dossier, similar to that used to secure authorization this year.<\/p>\n

But there is one key difference to what will be sought next time: a multi-year approval.<\/p>\n

The newspaper cites the one-off plan to race around the Arc-de-Triomphe in 2013, which then became a perennial authorization.<\/p>\n

ASO will look for the same: apologies in advance to the sprint specialists.<\/p>\n

Le Parisien expects that the green light will likely be given to ASO in September, and that the return to the climb would be confirmed at the Tour de France route launch later this fall on October 23.<\/p>\n

As for whether the political will is there to do it, the paper cites the endorsement of Pierre Rabadan, Paris\u2019 Deputy of Sport. And, not insignificantly, the news that French president Emmanuel Macron was \u2018enchanted\u2019 by the spectacle of the final stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”> Sunday\u2019s new-look final stage of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,5900,24592,82,636,12290],"class_list":["post-31986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-jonas-vingegaard","tag-montmartre","tag-sports","tag-tour-de-france","tag-wout-van-aert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}