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December 01, 2022
ASO has announced that the 2024 Tour de France will end with an individual time trial in Nice rather than with the traditional Champs-Élysées sprint
I like watching bike racing because I like not knowing what is going to happen. I like seeing riders fight for a breakaway, the anticipation of a feisty, unpredictable battle for victory, that feeling bubbling up in your chest when the roaring peloton is closing in on a group and you’re cheering for those tired, haggard riders who have fought so hard to stay ahead. I love the emotion of a solo victor, the excitement of the attacks in the final throes of the race, the scrappy panic to organise lead out trains if an unexpected bunch sprint is on the cards. The way those finishes take your breath away, bring tears to your eyes, fill you with adrenaline. What I’m trying to say is that I really, really don’t like boring bike races. And I think, every year, that’s exactly what the final stage of the Tour de France is.
The processional, predictable sprint stage on the Champs-Élysées is so dull that I rarely even switch on my TV until the riders are inside the final five kilometres – except maybe to see the yellow jersey winning team riding along in a risky and wobbly formation while drinking from champagne glasses (cycling really has some strange traditions). In the race’s 110 year history, aside from a couple of anomalies, we’ve all known how the final stage of the Tour de France is going to end: in one hectic, chaotic bunch sprint to the line.
Jasper Philipsen wins stage 21 of the 2022 Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées (Image: Getty/Michael Steele)
It’s for this very reason that the fast men of the peloton drag themselves through the mountains that come earlier in the race, all to get a shot at lunging their wheel ahead as they approach the line on those Parisian cobbles. Fair enough, the Champs is a big deal for the sprinters, but for everyone else, it doesn’t really mean anything. The riveting, compelling battle for the yellow jersey that we’ve all been invested in for the last three weeks comes to a premature end. The competitive edge of the GC men is gone, race decided before it has really finished.
Read more: Giro d’Italia 2023: The perfect race for Remco Evenepoel?
Imagine explaining this to someone who doesn’t follow cycling: we have this three-week race where everyone is trying to win…
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