The Men's Tour de France Will Close Out with a Sprint on the Champs-Elysées
Stage 21 - Paris la Défense Arena to Paris - 115.6km - Sunday, July 24
Champagne, celebrations, patriotic flyovers, and of course the iconic Champs-Elysées circuit with the Arc de Triomphe are all that’s left for the 138 finishers of the 2022 Tour de France. And of course some actual racing, with breakaways and an almost-certain field sprint.
The final stage of the Tour de France is equal parts ceremony and competition. With the traditional finish on the Champs, the race almost always starts in some Parisian suburb or outlying town, but this year it gets underway deep in the city proper at the la Défense business district, known for its own distinctive Grande Arche.
The 115.6km stage route then meanders west to the suburbs before doubling back through Versailles and into the heart of Paris for the eight finishing circuits on the Champs. There is one climb, the Category 4 Côte du Pavé des Gardes, but with the KoM competition sewn up it’s literally just a bump in the road.
As is tradition, the first half of the stage is ridden at an extremely relaxed pace, given over to little celebrations for the jersey wearers, best team, and other prizes. Keep an eye out for a few practical jokes between the riders: fake breakaway attempts, jersey swaps, and other moments of levity as riders celebrate the massive achievement of just finishing the Tour.
But as the race nears the circuits, things will turn serious again. Again, by tradition, the winner’s team leads onto the Champs for the first lap, but after that breakaways will start to pop off the front. Almost always, these are ultimately for show (the last breakaway to win was in 2005). The Champs is a well-drilled circuit that the riders know intimately, and with a prestigious sprint opportunity—one of just a few this race—the sprinters’ teams will be well-motivated to bring it all back before the final time up the finishing straight.
The key is positioning. The final corner, a sweeping right-hander off the Place de la Concorde, is 700 meters from the line, but the speed at this point is already so high that sprinters need to be in the top 10-15 riders around that bend to have any real shot at the stage win, which is a draggy false flat on bumpy cobbles.
Riders To Watch
It’s not impossible for a breakaway to succeed on the Champs, but it’s exceptionally rare. We’d bet almost zero on the likelihood of one this year because of the paucity of chances so far for the sprinters. Quick-Step—Alpha Vinyl has been quiet since winning the opening two stages and they’d love to cap off the Tour with another victory for Fabio Jakobsen, although they’ll have to do it without leadout man extraordinaire Michael Mørkøv. Lotto-Soudal’s Caleb Ewan has had a Tour to forget, but all that misfortune would be instantly dismissed with a stage. Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen has a stage win and several near-misses and is certainly a threat. And of course Wout van Aert would love to top off Jumbo-Visma’s dominating Tour with his fourth victory of the race. Finally, for teams that haven’t won yet, like TotalEnergies with Peter Sagan, and Intermarché-Wanty's Alexander Kristoff, it’s last-chance saloon.
When to Watch
Because there’s almost always a long overnight transfer to Paris after Stage 20 (this time it’s 550km from near Bordeaux), the final stage typically starts late in the day. Riders won’t even roll out of la Défense until 8:30 a.m. Instead, turn your Peacock stream to the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, with coverage starting at 7:30 a.m. It’s a historic first and promises to be exciting racing to open the eight-day event. After the women finish (around 9:30 a.m.), switch to the men’s race at noon for all the action on the Champs.
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