102km to go: Pogacar and his UAE Team Emirates teammates soak up the acclaim at the front as fans wave French tricolours and whoop them on. The riders pass the 30km mark, bearing down on the streets of the capital.
Tour de France 2025 finale: stage 21 takes the race into Paris – live | Tour de France 2025
Published: 2025-07-27 16:29:21 | Views: 8
Key events
104km to go: The pace at the front is ticking upwards. The peloton begins to snake through Villepreux.
113km to go: There’s more ominous talk of rain ahead, which could make for a treacherous ride over the cobbles of Montmartre. The riders pass the Château de Wideville, a sprawling estate which is, apparently, owned by the Italian fashion designer Valentino. So now you know!
118km to go: Pogacar keeps his steely focus as he passes a fan dressed in an inflatable dinosaur costume, wobbling uncontrollably. Others perch atop road signs or shimmy up lampposts to get a glimpse of the man in yellow. There’s a carnival atmosphere at the moment.
121km to go: XDS Astana Team link arms and soak up the applause from the roadside. The climb up the Côte de Bazemont is well under way.
Hello! Just as I begin my blogging stint, a man dressed as a hamburger is roaring on the riders. It’s that kind of a day. The peloton continues its leisurely meander as fans line the roads and wave them on towards Paris.
Going to step away to grab a bite. Will Magee is here to steer you through the next few kilometres. Enjoy!
123km to go: “In a bar near Place de Clichy at the entrance to Montmarte and it’s just started raining,” emails Andy McKay in Paris. Neutralisation (of the GC times at least, perhaps not of the stage) is not out of the question.
125km to go: The riders are still in processional mode, taking photos and smiling for the cameras. Surprisingly, there’s no sign of the champagne … yet. We’re not too far away from the first Cat. 4 climb, the Côte de Bazemont, and the racing might ramp up then. Let’s see.
127km to go: As mentioned, it’s been an amazing few weeks for Britain’s Oscar Onley, and here’s what the London-born Scot had to say before the rollout today.
There was no pressure from my team. We never really had the plan to go for GC. I’ve just taken every day as it comes. The Tour is already stressful enough. I’m really happy. It’s really cool to be on the wheel of Pogacar. It gives me a lot of confidence going forward. If I can do it here, then why not in other races?
Départ: stage three begins.
130km to go: Pogacar, flanked by his UAE teammates, start the départ for the final stage from Mantes-la-Ville to Paris Champs-Élysées. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere, with time for photos and backslapping. And why not? This has been a gruelling three weeks.
This is the final stage of the final Tour for Geraint Thomas, a winner here in 2018 and a legend of the sport: Olympic champion on the track, a winner of three World Championships. Such a storied and versatile rider that is such a popular rider for his understated charm.
Here is what Thomas had to say before today’s stage.
It’s a mixture of relief and joy. One last big day. To get to Paris is always special. We’ll enjoy it with the guys.
The Tour has been everything. I dreamt of competing in this race and I’ve done it 14 times. I think of all the guys I’ve done it alongside. Even the bad times, I still look back fondly because I know I bounced back from them.
The support I’ve had from Wales, from the UK, has been amazing. I see if from the Dutch and the French, the Americans. That’s the thing that I love the most.
And here is an interview we did with the Welshman a couple of months ago.
This was our report from Saturday, the penultimate stage.
Much has also been made of the Tour’s decision to augment Sunday’s traditional processional laps of the Champs-Élysées with three laps racing over the cobbled climbs in Montmartre. “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Vingegaard said. “Montmartre seemed very beautiful at the Paris Olympics, with a great atmosphere.”
“But when the riders arrived there, there were 50 in the peloton. Now there will be 150 of us fighting for position on a very narrow climb. It’s going to add more stress than we’d like.”
Preamble
Tadej Pogacar has more than a four-minute lead going into the final stage to Paris, and is a crash-free ride away from winning his fourth Tour. The Slovenian was the heavy favourite going into this race but has still been supreme. After gaining an early advantage, he has kept Jonas Vingegaard at bay, despite everything the Dane has thrown at his rival. Despite his victory being nearly sewn up, Pogacar remains wary of complacency. “Anything can happen but I’m not promising I’ll go for it,” said Pogacar after Saturday’s penultimate stage. “We’ll try to enjoy the yellow jersey in Paris.” There is a lot of talk that Pogacar might actually attack today. Let’s see.
Vingegaard is second (+4min24secs), Florian Lipowitz is third (11min90secs), just ahead of Scotland’s Oscar Onley, who just misses out on the podium. But what a performance by the 22-year-old. Big things await for Onley in the future.
Rain, cobbles and the Côte de la Butte Montmartre. As final stages of the Tour de France go, this one is certainly on the trickier side, even with the champagne glasses in hand. The threat of rain overshadows the finish in France’s capital and the Tour’s director of racing, Thierry Gouvenou, acknowledged that the Parisian cobbles can be treacherous when wet. “We know with the slightest drop of rain, Paris is a real ice rink,” he said before the Tour. “We saw it in the Olympic Games time trial. It can turn into a catastrophe.”
After a lot of talk about neutralisation of the stage, it looks dry in Paris. If it does rain, then the Tour is likely to “freeze” the overall standings, to ensure that the general classification is not affected by a last-day crash. “The stage will be run, but the time will be frozen,” Gouvenou said. So, as ever, in terms of riders keeping their GC position, it is just a case of them staying upright.
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