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On Top of Montmartre TdF25-143
It was exciting to watch real racing on the final stage of the Tour this year. The race took in the same circuit used in the 2024 Paris Olympics road race, the same Olympics that forced the Tour to finish in Nice last year. After four laps of the tradition Champs Elysees circuit, the race went up to the top of Monmartre, back down the other side before riding around the l'Arc de Triomphe again. They made three of these laps to end on the Champs Elysees. This Tour marks the 50th time the Tour has ended in the shadow of Napolean's triumphal arch. Since it was sure to rain on the cobblestones of Paris, the decision was made to take the final time on the final Champs circuit before the race went up the narrow streets behind the Moulin Rouge. So there was no reason for Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) to be off the front but for the simple reason he wanted to win the stage. On the first time up to the artist enclave, he was chased by Davide Ballerini (XDS-Astana), and the Visma-Lease a Bike duet of Matteo Jorgenson and Wout Van Aert. The Visma guys were the only teammates to make the split once over the top of the climb. That was partly due to help of their teammate Victor Campenaerts. That set them up to use Matteo as the attacker and Wout as the follower. This is an important detail to how the stage turned out.