'Dangerous... a shame' – Tour de France Champs-Elysées sprint winners criticise redesigned Paris stage finale
Race director Prudhomme says ꧃'the glorious uncertainty of the sport will return' amid negative reactions from riders to Montmartre climbs inclusion

Two former winners of the Champs-Elysées sprint at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tour de France have criticised the1𒁃68澳洲5最新开奖结果: redesigned route for the final stage of cycling's biggest race, announ✨ced on Wednesday by organise🍌rs ASO.
168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), who triumphed in Paris in 2021, s🌞aid it was "dangerous" to add the three ascents of the Côte de la Butte Montmartreও, which characterised last year's Paris Olympic Games road race, to the typical procession stage.
Despite the more Classics-style route likely benefiting someone like Van Aert, who was one of the strongest on the short climb alongside Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and whose teammate 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Rem🌼co Evenepoel won the gold medal for Belgiu꧟m, he expects the different peloဣton size🐻 to be the key problem.
"I'm not really a fan of it. I think it's going to be a dangerous stage," Van Aert told , speaking at the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Giro d'Italia. "The course is obviously something that 🐲suits me, especially when that last climb is 6km from the finish. That opens 🔯up perspectives for classic riders like me.
"But it ignores the fact that we arr❀ived there during the Games with a peloton of 50 riders and now with an entire Tour peloton, where many classification riders still have something to defend. I expect chaos, I think it's a shame that we're going to seek that out."
Despite the incredible spectacle, where an expected 500,000 fꦦans came out to watch the Olympic Games road race, Van Aert thinks the safety aspect is paramount and not being prioꦓritised.
"🙈I understand that the organisation thought 'That looks cool, we should try to use that,'" he said. "But in recent years, safety has increasingly become an issue, and this choice for Montmartre ignores this."
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Compatriot and 2022 sprint winner on 'the most famous avenue in the world', 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuni🎀nck) has a similarly negative opinion, with his chances of repeating victory on the c♓obblestone street being reduced.
"As a sprinter, it's clearly a shame to see this𝓡 stage change. It had become a magnificent tradition," Philipsen told .
"The stage will become significantly more demanding for the sprinters, simply because there will be more riders capab🌠le of winning it. But that doesn't mean that a sprinter can no longer win it."
Philipsen w🌠as less interested in the safety aspect, acknowledging how any potential chaos depends largely on how the GC situation is at the beginning of the final day. However, he did note how encouraging a chance to move up on the final day, with Mon🌳tmartre included, breeds more risk.
"An impoꦇrtant factor going into this final stage will be the classification and the time gaps between the overall contenders. If everything stays close, the stress level in the peloton will definitely increase, especially as we approach Mꦦontmartre," he said.
"None of the overall contenders will want to lose even a second, as the stage offers a final opportunity to move up the top 10 an🌜d gain valuable se꧋conds.
"In previous years, the overall teams could just enjoy a mor𒀰e relaxed day, but now they'll havꦐe to stay completely focused until the end. Once again, this will change the overall tension in the peloton."
Earlier this week, two-time Tour winner 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jonas Vingegaard criticised the idea from a safety perspective, while Evenepo𒉰el has also previously voiced his doub🦋ts about adding the Montmartre climbs.
Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme defended the organiser's decision to create more of a spectacle on stage 21, citing initial negative responses to onꦚe of the Tour's most iconic climbs, the Tourmalet, was first included as proof that building the "legend" of the race requires some risk.
"It was obvio🌠us to us that we wanted to do something big for the 5📖0th anniversary of the first arrival on the Champs-Elysées," Prudhomme told .
"This 𒀰will further increase the prestige of the Tour all over the world. It will allow cycling to further๊ build its legend.
"When Henri Desgrange (the driving force behind the first Tour – Ed.) first included the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Tourmalet and the Pyreꦫnees in the route in 1910, not everyone was thrilled. Now they are part of the legend of the Tour. We must continue to build on that legend."
While the Rue Lepic and Montmartre's inclusion🔯 into the Tour will be a feature of 2025 and a huge talking point ahead of a possibly chaotic final day, it's unclear yet whether the narrow streets of northern Paris will become a mainstay.
But Prudhomme's pursuit of "le𝔉gend" and wanting to ensure "the glorious uncertainty of the sport will return" suggest that this type of final stage could be here to stay.
He wants someone, like Bernard Hinault did in 1979 and 1981, to win in France's capital wearing the 🌜yellow jersey, closing out the Tour de France in style. However, he did admit that this was part of "a crazy dream."

James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majorꦦity of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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