Tour de France stage 21 LIVE: Shortened stage around Montmartre and Champs-Élysées brings race to a close

Xabier Mikkel Azparren (Pinarello-Q36.5)
Thibault Guernalec (TotalEnergies)

They have a gap of 21″ according to the timings.

2026-07-26T16:48:05.058Z

The peloton all calm again with multiple riders spread across the road.

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Veistroffer now caught by the peloton with new moves trying to go clear.

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Veistroffer won the intermediate sprint with Pedersen taking fifth with 12 points for the green jersey.

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1km to the intermediate sprint.

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The intermediate sprint is coming very soon. Veistroffer has 10″ in the peloton with 2km to the sprint.

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Huge movements on the front of the peloton with Alpecin-Premier Tech and Lidl-Trek hammering the pace. Pedersen has taken points in every single intermediate sprint at this race which is quite amazing.

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Bernal back in as Veistroffer now has 16″ on the peloton.

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Puncture for Egan Bernal (NCI) and he gets a quick bike change and is already back in the cars.

Baptiste Veistroffer (LOI)

He goes solo yet again. The Frenchman has about 6″ on the peloton for the moment.

Le Berre (TEN)
Vinokurov (XAT)
Heßmann (MOV)
Steinhauser (EFE)
Thomas (COF)
Slock (LOI)
Dillier (APT)
Veistroffer (LOI)

Racing is underway but that early move is dragged back immediately.

The GC times will be taken at the end of the Champs-Élysées laps with around 41km to go as they head onto the Montmartre laps.

2026-07-26T16:23:51.409Z

Final week:

S16. Evenepoel completed his set with the expected TT win but saw teammate Florian Lipowitz crash out
S17. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) took his win and went to just seven points away from Pedersen’s green jersey
S18. Richard Carapaz took his first of two wins in a magnificent final week from him as Pedersen jumped clear of Philipsen again
S19. Pogačar signed off with record breaking climb and stage win on an incredible chaotic Alpe d’Huez
S20. Carapaz took another stage win with two crashes from Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) making the polka dot jersey’s job a bit easier as Del Toro solidified his third place with Paul Seixas (Decathlon-CMA CGM) cracking

S21. We shall see!

2026-07-26T16:19:11.665Z

Week two:

S10. Pogačar started week two with a bang as he stormed to yet another win, his third of five stages
S11. Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) surprised the other sprinters with a long distance sprint win
S12. Merlier completed his hattrick
S13. Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) took a superb win from the break
S14. Pogačar gets win number four
S15. Evenepoel took first road stage win as we bid farewell to Vingegaard as week two closed

2026-07-26T16:15:34.674Z

Let’s take a look back at the race as a whole with three magnificent weeks.

Week one was brutal!

S1. Visma-Lease a Bike won the TTT with Jonas Vingegaard going into yellow
S2. Isaac Del Toro took 1st ahead of Pogačar in a UAE one-two
S3. Pogačar then stormed onto the scene properly and went into yellow
S4. Mads Pedersen went into green with a stage win from the break after a tactical masterclass from Lidl-Trek with Torstein Træen taking yellow
S5. Olav Kooij (Decathlon-CMA CGM) took his first every Tour stage at the first time of asking
S6. Pogačar won again looking like he could win almost everything as he retook yellow
S7. Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) took his first of three wins
S8. Merlier doubled up
S9. week one ended with Mathieu van der Poel powering to breakaway success as Pogačar was in yellow after week one.

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Small mechanical for Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). Technically their debut at the race but the sponsor did race in 1987 and 1988.

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The usual photos are being taken for the jerseys and their teams.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Pogačar is, of course, decked out in yellow.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Around the Arc de Triomphe for the first time as the jerseys still lead the way. We are technically racing bit it does appear the riders will just roll round this first lap at least.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Racing begins but the first lap does appear to be relaxed as the riders roll off the start/finish line. All the jerseys lined up together in front of the peloton with huge cheers coming from the massive crowds.

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It is pretty gusty out on course with wind gusts said to possible be up to 30mph at times. Definitely a chance for echelons if a team really goes for it.

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Interestingly, Quinn Simmons has been named best teammate of the Tour de France after his work for Mads Pedersen, Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose.

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The stage is set, the roads are mercifully dry and the riders are rolling to the start with Pogačar getting his saddle height adjusted and Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) adjusting his power meter.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Cannondale have made a fantastic polka dot bike for Carapaz who wins the mountains jersey for the second time in his career.

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Colnago have made two special bikes for Pogačar and Del Toro with a full yellow and white frames done for them.

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Lidl-Trek will very likely take the team standings as they lead UAE Team Emirates-XRG by 36’57”, but that can disappear very easily. Lidl-Trek will be going for Mads Pedersen to win in green while UAE will be aiming for another win for Tadej Pogačar in yellow.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-07-26T15:33:34.571Z

Pogačar and the rest of his UAE Team Emirates-XRG squad have gone full yellow for the final stage in Paris. Also the number five is plastered everywhere they can fit it.

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Tadej Pogačar will be joining a very elite group of riders with five Tour de France overall victories to their names.

Eddy Merckx
Jacques Anquetil
Bernard Hinault
Miguel Indurain

An incredible disaster would have to happen to prevent the Slovenian from joining them.

2026-07-26T15:25:29.486Z

The crowds are already absolutely gigantic in Montmartre with the summit of the climb by the Sacré-Cœur playing host to massive numbers of people with rain clouds looming overhead.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Remarkably, only 11 riders remained inside an hour of Pogačar with Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) being the last of them at +56’37” with the last placed rider in GC, Cees Bol in 158th, being at +6:22’08” down on Pogačar after a brutal three weeks.

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The jerseys have been pretty much decided. Anything can happy on this tricky course around Paris, but the jerseys are expected to be as followed:

Yellow GC – Tadej Pogačar (UAX)
Green Points – Mads Pedersen (LTK)
Polka-dots KOM – Richard Carapaz (EFE)
White Youth – Isaac Del Toro (UAX)

With the podium looking like this:

1. Tadej Pogačar (UAX) 72:53’22”
2. Remco Evenepoel (RBH) +6’26”
3. Isaac Del Toro (UAX) +9’42”

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-07-26T15:04:47.393Z

For more in depth information including the official statement by the race organisers, take a look at our news piece…

2026-07-26T15:03:49.744Z

Take a look at our preview of the stage with the new profile and what that may mean for the riders…

2026-07-26T14:33:12.475Z

Bonjour and welcome to the final stage of the Tour de France 2026! A shortened day due to police being relocated to southern France to battle the huge wildfires down there. So the riders have 88.7km of racing starting and finishing on the Champs Elysees with three laps of the amazing Montmartre circuit.

(Image credit: ASO)

It was an unusual start to the day with the riders having their team presentation in Thoiry, where the stage was originally meant to begin from at 14:40 local time with all the riders and race officials heading into Paris by bus and car with the stage starting at 17:50 local time. Roughly 50 minutes from now.

(Image credit: Getty Images)