The one without the Champs Élysées ending
Since this year started, there have been rumours that following the success of last year’s Paris Olympics cycling road race, the Tour de France (TdF) would look to revisit the iconic hill climb up to the Parisian district of Montmartre. ASO - the organisers of the Tour - were quick to dismiss the rumours. The TdF peloton was double the size of the Olympic one, there’s a huge retinue that follows every stage - team cars, officials, TV and press motorbikes and cars, sponsors, medical teams and gendarmerie. The narrow streets around Montmartre simply couldn’t support all this, and there was absolutely no space to support all the vast finish line facilities that appear ever day at the Tour. By February, some sort of circuit of Montmartre, followed by the traditional finish on the Champs Élysées was being mooted - and in fact I saw a provisional map. Perhaps it was just another rumour, perhaps it was possible. It even looked like I could watch somewhere around the crowded Montmartre streets...