Tour de France: "The very last one, that of pleasure", everything you need to know about the 21st stage

The Tour de France is over.

Or it's just like.

It's time for the final episode, the usual parade on the Champs-Élysées after a walk started on the Pont de Chatou, in the Yvelines.

The opportunity to party.

The eye of Thierry Gouvenou, the technical director of the event

There, classically, it's the parade, the party.

This is the last opportunity for a final battle between the best sprinters.

After three weeks, the runners deserved to enjoy Paris, the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe.

It will end with a nice sprint and smiles.

This is the very last step, clearly that of pleasure.

An arrival on the Champs thanks to Yves Mourousi

After the summer of 1974, on a proposal from the co-director of the event, Félix Lévitan, Yves Mourousi, then star presenter of the 1 p.m. newspaper on TF 1, made a phone call to the President of the Republic, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing .

The latter, seduced by the tinsel of the proposal, gives his agreement.

And so on July 20, 1975, the Belgian Walter Godefroot was the first to land the most sumptuous stage of the Grande Boucle.

Bernard Thévenet wins the first of his two Tours in this magical place.

He will receive the yellow jersey from the hands of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing on a podium hastily mounted on the sidewalk and under the trees.

Read alsoThe big arrival party on the Champs, a classic for… 46 years

Cavendish for the story?

In the land of kings, Mark Cavendish, the absolute sovereign of the sprint, can afford a 35th stage victory and become the only success record holder by surpassing for good the immense Eddy Merckx (34 bouquets).

The Englishman from Deceuninck-Quick Step suspects that this is his best chance to overtake the Cannibal.

Next year, the competition, too quickly eliminated this year, will be more open.

Our prognosis

It is not difficult to find.

For a long time now, there has only been one major sprinter in the 2021 peloton: Mark Cavendish.