According to the French press, after two years of spectacle on the Butte, the final stage will return to its traditional format: the official route will be revealed in Paris next Thursday.
After two years of experimenting with the detour through Montmartre , the final stage of the Tour de France is poised to return to the classic parade route with a final sprint on the Champs-Élysées . This is according to rumors in the French press.
The route of the 2027 Tour de France will be presented in Paris next Thursday and the newspaper Le Progrès anticipates that the Montmartre climb will be excluded from the route.
Over the past two years, the Côte de la Butte Montmartre has disrupted the grand finale: 1.1 km with an average gradient of 5.9%, mostly on cobblestones, followed by a treacherous descent. A short, but powerful, climb that ignites the race.
And on both occasions, the spectacle was spectacular. In 2025, Wout van Aert outdistanced Tadej Pogačar and went on to win solo. This year, Mathieu van der Poel managed to hold off the peloton after a small group attack, which once again involved Pogačar, capping a thrilling finale.
Organizers had already tweaked the format, lengthening the distance from the top of the climb to the finish line from six kilometers to just over ten. The result was a more evenly matched duel between attackers and sprinters, a good compromise between tradition and a desire for spectacle. However, if Le Progrès is right, the old format will be reverted for 2027.
One factor could be the freezing of the general classification . In both editions with Montmartre, the general classification times were neutralized at the entrance to the final circuit. In 2025, bad weather had made the cobblestones dangerous, and the neutralization served to allow riders like Pogačar to ride openly without fear of losing their position in the event of a crash. This year, the weather was dry, but the riders pushed for the same treatment again, and the organizers ultimately relented.
The organizers would have preferred to leave the overall standings open, and perhaps this also influenced their alleged decision. For years, the final stage has been a parade, with champagne and photos in the first few kilometers before the actual race through the center of Paris. But a general standing still, perhaps with the yellow jersey hanging in the balance, would derail the festive atmosphere.
The last bunch sprint on the Champs-Élysées dates back to 2023. In 2024 the finale was moved from Paris due to the Olympics and the Tour concluded with a time trial in Nice.
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