For well over 100 years, one thing has been certain: after thousands of kilometers in the saddle, the Tour de France ends for the cycling pros with a ride over the Champs Élysées in Paris. In 2024 this tradition will be broken. The Tour of France ends in Nice this year. The reason for this is another major sporting event.
Due to the Olympic Games in Paris (July 26 – August 11), which begin just five days after the end of the 111th Tour of France, the final stage of the cycling classic is moving to the Côte d’Azur. The final in Nice will also be a historic event for other reasons: For the first time since 1989, the final stage will be an individual time trial – 35 years after the dramatic showdown in which Greg Lemond defeated Laurent Fignon by just eight seconds.
As the French daily newspaper “Le Parisien” reports, the choice of Nice was not accidental: because of the corona pandemic, the 2020 tour started in the coastal city without a large supporting program and only with a few spectators. Nice, which has been a stage of the tour 37 times so far, is now to be compensated for this.
The brief farewell to Paris has sporting historical dimensions. The race only ended in Ville d’Avray for the first two editions of the tour in 1903 and 1904 and only then always in Paris. There the finish line was in the Prinzenpark Stadium until 1968, then in the Cipale Velodrome and since 1975 on the Champs Élysées.
The tour is scheduled to return to Paris in 2025. With a view to the 50th anniversary of the arrival on the Champs Élysées, the organizers have already indicated special campaigns.
At the last edition of the race in summer, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) surprisingly won ahead of top favorite Tadej Pogacar (UAE). The German Simon Geschke (Cofidis) wore the dotted mountain jersey for several stages.
