Tour de France Final Stage Revised Due to South-West France Fires

With the route cut to 89 kilometres, down from the 133 originally planned, the final stage of the Grande Boucle is set to be decidedly Parisian. Due to "the exceptional situation linked to the fires " in the south-west of France, the riders still in the race did not pass through Yvelines and headed straight to the capital by bus. A longer course would have been harder to secure, as the Interior Ministry has redeployed part of the police and gendarmerie forces assigned to the Tour to bolster efforts to fight the flames in Gironde.

Under the revised route, the start will be given at 17:50. The peloton will complete two extra laps of the Champs-Élysées before tackling the Montmartre hill circuit, then return to the famous Paris avenue for a finish scheduled around 19:45. As last year and during the Paris Olympic Games, the riders will have to climb the spectacular Rue Lepic three times, where a large crowd has already gathered to support them in their effort before the final sprint.

Tadej Pogačar, a fifth crown in sight Barring a crash or incident, Tadej Pogačar is on course to win his fifth Tour de France on Sunday, joining legends Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain, Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault on the honours list. At 27, the Slovenian starts this final stage with a comfortable lead of 6 minutes 26 seconds over Belgium's Remco Evenepoel. His team-mate at UAE Team Emirates XRG, 22-year-old Mexican Isaac Del Toro, riding his first Tour de France, is third in the general classification, nearly ten minutes behind the yellow jersey.

Pogačar is enjoying an exceptional season. Even before wrapping up this Tour de France, he has already won the Tour de Suisse, the Tour de Romandie and several major classics, confirming his status as the dominant rider in the world peloton.

Last year, nearly 500,000 people packed the streets of Paris to applaud the Tour de France riders, including around 180,000 in Montmartre, according to Paris city hall. A crowd that should, once again this year, confirm the popular fervour surrounding the Tour's Parisian finale.