Change from Champs Elysees?

jimmocrates

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/18/its-a-little-worn-paris-champs-elysees-in-line-for-250m-make-over

The last stage of the Tour always comes across as a bit of a dead rubber. The sprint can be entertaining, but I'd love to see ASO try something different to at least give a glimmer that GC can go to the wire. Hopefully the chances of this would increase if the Champs Elysees was strewn with roadworks for a year..

webboo

I think you might find all 3 of the Grand tours declare a truce on the last stage.

DeVlaeminck

It does go to the wire, it's just that the wire is a day previous to the final stage. For me it doesn't really matter if the last mountain stage is the last day or penultimate day but having a sprint in Paris gives us a special sprint stage that probably wouldn't be special otherwise.

rick_chasey

Imagine how crestfallen you’d feel finishing the Tour on some random bit of road.

You could do an ‘89 style TT if you want but I bet you that’s more of a snooze than the ritual wave goodbye the fans make to the riders they’ve watched for dozens of hours during the final pootle.

Is 20 days of racing *not enough*?!

Are you not entertained?

RichN95.

In the last 50 editions of the race the yellow jersey has changed hands on the last GC stage on only six occasions - all of them time-trials.

TheBigBean

There's always a risk that there is a crash or a puncture with 3.5km to go on the final day and someone loses the lead as a result. Therefore, I'm of the view that either the final day should be neutralised or they should race.

larkim

I view the final GT stages as a bit like the relays in T&F - just a bit of fun to end the programme with, some jeopardy for those involved but more a celebration of the sport in a party atmosephere once the real shakeout has happened.

Nothing wrong with that IMHO.

On the other hand, I do wish they'd formalise it such that the leader CANNOT lose the race providing he gets to the end and crosses the finish line. I know in practice this is what happens, but a formal neutralisation from km0 onwards, or at least a consistent neutralisation of GC from the moment they enter the laps of the Champs etc would make more sense to me, just to avoid the possibility that a 10s gap could inadvertently get closed because the GC leader's bike jams up 200m from the end with the 2nd place rider crossing the line in the bunch unaware of the issue behind him.

twotoebenny

webboo said:

I think you might find all 3 of the Grand tours declare a truce on the last stage.

The giro has had a TT on last stage as recently as... erm... this year! It's quite often a TT to finish.

Also the TDF finish with Lemon and Fignon has to be one of the most exciting finishes in the race history.

I enjoy the laps of the Champs but often wish there was a race to finish.

jimmocrates

webboo said:

I think you might find all 3 of the Grand tours declare a truce on the last stage.

Giro has mixed it up with sprints and TTs in recent times which has at least added a little variety and tension.
The last stage in Paris forces the route to an extent. This just seems like an external factor which may give ASO the opportunity to try something new (and not necessarily in Paris).

salsiccia1

No way will the Tour not finish in Paris.

jimmocrates

salsiccia1 said:

No way will the Tour not finish in Paris.

I know Paris has a stanglehold over the finale and unlikely to move long term, but as a comparator, Wembley is "undisputed home of football" in England, but when it was rebuilt and change was enforced, moving cup finals to Cardiff and playing internationals across the country was really well received and a big success.
PS: And it's flippin bleak here in the rainy north at the minute so don't take away my utopian hope of 19 all action mid summer stages under sunny skies. ;-)

RichN95.

jimmocrates said:

salsiccia1 said:

No way will the Tour not finish in Paris.

I know Paris has a stanglehold over the finale and unlikely to move long term, but as a comparator, Wembley is "undisputed home of football" in England, but when it was rebuilt and change was enforced, moving cup finals to Cardiff and playing internationals across the country was really well received and a big success.
PS: And it's flippin bleak here in the rainy north at the minute so don't take away my utopian hope of 19 all action mid summer stages under sunny skies. ;-)

Maybe they could come up with a system where some of the other stages went around country. Like some sort of tour of France.

More seriously, the Tour is as much a tourist attraction as a race, and tourists want to see the Tour finish in Paris not Lyon.

larkim

There's as much pomp and importance associated with the start of the TdF for ASO to be forgiven for permanently finishing in Paris. And I'm sure towns / cities that get the ITTs also feel like they're getting a fair share of attention, plus the stage starts and finishes - even the towns that are passed through make a fairly big deal of it, so I doubt there's any real pressure within France to hold the finish anywhere else (I might be wrong!)

kingstongraham

They can all get direct flights out of Paris as well. Goes for the riders and VIPs who want to show up.

Lanterne_Rogue

Who cares about a bit of resurfacing work? Run it in whatever state it happens to be in so the equipment sponsors can flog some gravel bikes. Strade Bianche's always popular with the punters so it'll also stop people whinging about it being a sprinty stage with no impact on GC.

ddraver

The concept of any sort of TT being a more 'entertaining' version of literally anything astounds me.

Let alone a visual Parisian feast combined with a no hold barred sprint fest