Tour de France 2025 Stage 21

July 27, 2025 Of the 184 riders that set off from Lille to start the Tour de France, 160 of them have made it to Paris. The final 132KM of the Grand Boucle is usually a celebration of having fought through crashes, fatigue, and inclement weather to arrive in the city of lights for a sprint on the Champs-Élysées but today could be different. The day starts in Mantes-la-Ville, just West of Paris, along the banks of the Seine. The riders will roll East and get their first sight of the Eiffel Tower at around 80KM to go. They arrive on the Champs-Élysées and complete 3 laps of the traditional circuit but on the fourth lap, they make a deviation towards the 18th arrondissement to tackle the 1KM, 6% climb of Montmartre that featured prominently in the 2024 Olympic Road Race. The Champs-Élysées plus Montmartre circuit is taken on for two more laps before the conclusion in front of Marigny Square on the Champs-Élysées. The inclusion of the Montmartre climb has been criticized by many for breaking with tradition but we'll only know after the race how influential it has been. After each team got their opportunity to take photos, UAE-XRG started riding at 120KM to go to get to Paris as quickly as possible. When the riders arrived in Versailles with 95KM to go, the roads were wet after a heavy shower passed through. The organizers announced over the radio that GC times will be taken at 50KM to go on the fourth passage of the finish line, the last one before entering the Montmartre circuit. The peloton let a gap open for UAE-XRG to come across for the first passage of the finish line in the lead. At the top of the Champs-Élysées at the Arc de Triomphe, the first attacks started for 69KM of full racing. Fortunately, the roads were dry and safe because the speed was well over 60KM/HR down the back side of the Champs-Élysées. The first riders to get a gap were Quinn Simmons of Lidl-Trek and Florian Lipowitz of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe. The broke clear with 55KM to go and were still holding 10 seconds 5KM later when the GC times were officially taken. Simmons and Lipowitz were caught when the race swung right on to the new part of the circuit, heading towards Montmartre. Tudor Pro Cycling led on to the climb as if it was the the final lap. The crowd was so thick as they hit the climb that it would have been hard to fit more people between the barriers and buildings. 600M from the top, Julian Alaphilippe attacked and had Arnaud De Lie of Lotto with him. Tadej Pogačar of UAE-XRG pulled the group back and the front of the race was starting to split apart. When they turned back on to the Champs-Élysées, only about 25 riders were still in contention. Rain began to pour down as they went through 2 laps and 33KM to go. Visma-Lease a Bike led on to the wet cobbles of Montmartre for the penultimate time but it was Pogačar that made the first acceleration from his famous seated position. At top, he had pulled out a group containing Davide Ballerini of XDS-Astana, Matteo Jorgenson and Wout van Aert of Visma-Lease a Bike, Matej Mohorič of Bahrain Victorious, and Matteo Trentin of Tudor Pro Cycling. The group rode well together, through the bell with 17KM to go, and around the first half of the circuit. With 8.5KM to go, van Aert let a gap go to Jorgenson who who put on the gas. Mohorič closed it down but it was the first sign of discord among the group. They started the climb together with Pogačar leading the way. Pogačar revved up the speed and as his effort went higher, the crowd got louder. He rode everyone off his wheel except for van Aert who had diamonds in his legs. The Belgian came around Pogačar 350M from the top and put on the after burners. Pogačar couldn't hang on and van Aert was off the front for the start of the descent with 6KM to go. Pogačar was caught by Jorgenson, Ballerini, and Mohorič and with 3KM to go and van Aert had 13 seconds. Van Aert made the final turn on to the Champs-Élysées with 700M to go, splashing has way through the puddles up to the finish line. He had 20 seconds in hand and sat up to savor the moment of his second win on the Champs-Élysées in his career. Ballerini won the sprint for second with Mohorič taking third. The final classifications of the race went to: Polka Dot Mountains- Tadej Pogačar Green Sprint- Jonathan Milan White Best Young Rider- Florian Lipowitz The Yellow Jersey for first in GC went to Tadej Pogačar. He joins Chris Froome as the only other rider to have four Tour de France overall wins. behind Pogačar in GC was: 2. Jonas Vingegaard - Visma-Lease a Bike 3. Florian Lipowitz - Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe 4. Oscar ONley - Picnic-PostNL 5. Felix Gall - Decathlon AG2R 6. Tobias Johannessen - Uno-X Mobility 7. Kévin Vauquelin - Arkéa-B&B Hotels 8. Primož Roglič - Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe 9. Ben Healy - EF-Education EasyPost 10. Jordan Jegat - TotalEnergies