After last year’s break due to the Olympic Games, Paris is back in the Tour de France to welcome the last stage of the Champs -Elysées – the place which was presented for the first time in the last episode of the Grande Boucle exactly 50 years ago, in 1975. It was implemented on the cake for a Landmark edition. The cannibal was indeed the protagonist of this final stage, during the racing fiercely to try to triumph in the rainbow jersey-and, perhaps, dethroned the Thévennet in the eleventh hour. His efforts did not take place, and Walter Goodefroot won a bunch of sprint, giving the tone at the last stage of the Tour de France in the Champs-Elysées to become the unofficial world championship of the sprinter.
This will not be the case this year, however. The Tour de France withdrew a sheet from the Book of the Olympic Games to include on its career the same sharp and paved hill in the Montmartre district which presented the Golden Triumph of Remco Evenepoel last summer. The climb will be struck three times by the runners, the last with only 6 kilometers to go, and can be an excellent springboard so that punchys runners have their say. It could well awaken the instinct of Tadej Pogacar for him to raise his arms in victory and yellow at the Champs-Elysées, a feat that Bernard Hinault. The Slovenian, however, pointed out his finger on his teammate Jhonatan Narváez as a potential candidate for victory. The scenario seems to be suitable for riders like the Ecuadorian – a proven racing craftsman to read the race, a difficult kick in the legs to fly to Montmartre, a power in the engine to retain possible prosecution. Stars like Ben Healy, Wout Van Aert, Julian Alaphilippe or Michael Valgren can also be considered favorites on a scene which, according to Green Jersey Jonathan Milan (and the best part of the peloton), is “a large question mark”.
