The Paris Olympic Games upset the program of the event, advanced by a week. For the first time since 1905 his epilogue will not be played in the capital.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
Olympic games organized in Paris oblige, the Tour de France 2024 had to review its final. For the first time since 1905, the epilogue of the Great Loop will not be held in the capital but in Nice, announced the municipality and Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), manager of the event, Thursday 1
“It was 37 times that Nice welcomed the Tour with two departures in 1981 and 2020”, the latter “in a very difficult health context” with the pandemic of COVID-19, welcomed the mayor of The city, Christian Estrosi (Horizons). The arrival of the cycling race in his town was mentioned for a long time, the holding of the games (from July 26 to August 11) upset the summer sports program that year.
With the exception of the first two editions arrived in Ville-d’Avray (Hauts-de-Seine) in 1903 and 1904, the Grande Boucle has so far ended in Paris. First at the Parc des Princes (from 1906 to 1967), then at the Cipale Velodrome (from 1968 to 1975), before winning since 1975 the Champs-Elysées.
legendary outcome of 1989
As is often the case in an Olympic year, the start of the Tour was advanced for a week. This 111 e edition will leave on June 29 of Florence, Italy – a first for the country – and will end on July 21, five days before the opening ceremony.
Another announcement: the last step, traditionally a sprint on the Champs-Elysées, will this time be an individual time trial. Unheard of since the legendary outcome of 1989, where the Frenchman Laurent Fignon had lost the yellow jersey for eight seconds – the lowest gap in history – facing the American Greg Lemond.
For this tour like the others, the organizers thus plan a “final weekend on fireworks”, with Saturday, a “mountain oriented” stage from Nice before this time as a Ultimate justice of the peace, thirty-five years therefore after that between Versailles and the Champs-Elysées remained in all memories.
In 2025, the return to normal is already a program. Especially since the tour has something to celebrate. “We will be delighted to find Paris and the Champs-Elysées for the 50th anniversary of the first arrival on the fields, in 2025”, as Christian Prudhomme, the director of the event.