50 years of the Champs-Élysées: With glitz and glamour
Text: Stephan Klemm
During the hours before the riders of the Tour de France reach their destination in Paris, the Champs-Élysées are an oasis of calm. France's grand boulevard is cordoned off, not a car to be seen, heard or smelt, a radical traffic turnaround for a day. The wide pavements fill up steadily until they are full in rows of ten, on both sides, from the obelisk on the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. The people have come, tens of thousands year after year, to greet the most robust professional cyclists on the last stop of their odyssey through France and to welcome the Tour winner in a fabulous atmosphere. After a few laps of the 70 metre wide and 1,910 metre long avenue, they find their final winner of the day at Avenue de Marigny. The winner of the race is then given a triumphant send-off into his new life as a Tour winner from this spot. Loud cheers, fanfares, live television coverage in the middle of the 8th arrondissement, the political centre of the French capital, not far from the Elysée Palace, the official residence of the French president. It could hardly be more stylish. The road is dead straight, but also uneven and covered with archaic cobblestones, "which scared me the first time I rode over them," says former German sprinter Marcel Kittel. Horrible quality, completely uneven, dangerous. On the back straight in particular, it is "hellishly loud, not just because of the euphoric spectators, but because it rattles you and your bike so much. Before the final, there is also the shouting of the teams, which mixes with the noise of the spectators - spectacular".
At the same time, Kittel also realised in the summer of 2013 that a perfumery was located near the Arc de Triomphe, with olfactory consequences: "It smells so enormous, unbelievable." The tour ended shortly before sunset on 21 July 2013 to bring the 100th Tour of France to a particularly perfect conclusion: "That really got me," says Kittel.
The Tour participants first experienced the ambience, the excitement, the arrival in the shade of historic buildings on one of the most beautiful streets in the world, lined on both sides by mighty chestnut and plane trees, 50 years ago. The premiere of the Tour of France in 1903 still ended in Ville d'Avray in the south-west of Paris, because the Paris city prefect had spoken out against the organisation of cycling races in the capital at the time. However, the entourage of arrivals rolled out the six kilometres to the velodrome in the Parc des Princes, where the riders were enthusiastically welcomed. This velodrome provided the setting for the final stage until 1967. There was a change of venue from 1968 to 1974, when the Tour de France finished at the Vincennes velodrome, known as "La Cipale" in the south-east of Paris. For the summer of 1975, however, the news presenter Yves Mourousi, who was very popular in France at the time, had an idea that immediately inspired and won over Tour director Jacques Goddet and his deputy Félix Lévitan: Arrival of the riders on the Champs-Élysées, France's most magnificent mile. The prefecture hesitated, but Mourousi maintained excellent contacts at the Elysée Palace and spoke to President Valérie Giscard d'Estaing. He was immediately convinced and gave his approval. The mayor at the time, Jacques Chirac, also agreed enthusiastically. Goddet and Lévitan then announced in November 1974 that the tour would henceforth end on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
In other words, on the street, which, if you follow the famous chanson by Joe Dassin from 1969, offers everything imaginable. The chorus begins with "Aux Champs-Élysées", which sounds like "Oh, Champs-Élysées": "In the sun or in the rain, at noon or at midnight, there's everything you want - on the Champs-Élysées". Now even a spectacular cycle race.
The first winner on 20 July 1975 was the Belgian Walter Godefroot, who later became team manager of the Telekom team. Giscard d'Estaing himself was present at the award ceremony and put the final yellow jersey on Tour winner Bernard Thévenet. The start was a spectacle right from the start, with an enormous crowd turning up to watch this innovation. The backdrop was as immense and euphoric as it usually is in the mountains.
What a coup on the Champs-Élysées
One of the eyewitnesses to the first arrival in Paris was the current Tour Director Christian Prudhomme, who was 14 years old at the time. He watched the action on the Place de la Concorde in 1975 and was "absolutely thrilled, blown away". The Tour on the Champs-Élysées was something "absolutely special, inimitable". The setting now attracts Tour fans from all over the world, "the audience is now much more international than it was in 1975, flags from many countries can be seen. This shows that Paris is a kind of destination of longing - for the riders after their adventurous journey, but also for the spectators who want to welcome the professionals.
Marcel Kittel won in 2013 and 2014 at this favourite destination, the two most important victories of his career. The Tour demands everything from the riders, everyone is tired and completely exhausted. But being able to focus on this last day in this decisive minute "demands everything from you once again. In my eyes, this intensification makes this stage a world championship for sprinters. It is "a baptism of fire for every sprinter who can deliver his masterpiece here on this wonderful road".
Kittel's former German sprint opponent André Greipel, who won the Tour finale in Paris in 2015 and 2016, has a similar view. For him, this stage is "a prestigious sprint that winning was the icing on the cake of my career". The first German winner in the heart of Paris was Dietrich Thurau in July 1977, who won section A of a two-part stage, a short six-kilometre time trial through Paris. It was Thurau's fifth one-day victory in the Tour, which he finished in fifth place overall.
In addition, the winner of the day and the winners of the classification jerseys are honoured on an opulent podium with the triumphal arch behind them. The two big winners of the final act, the winner of the day and the Tour triumphant, really do feel like they are in Elysium, on the island of the blessed. "The podium is intense, an incredible experience that feels completely surreal," says Kittel. His conclusion: "For me, Paris is as much a part of the Tour as a good bottle of champagne afterwards."
Thierry Gouvenou, former professional cyclist and now route planner for the Tour, completed the Tour of France six times between 1994 and 2001. The arrival on the Champs-Élysées "was magical for me. As a Frenchman, I found this finale perhaps even more magical than riders from any other country.
Before entering the circuit on the Champs for the first time, the riders have to pass through a tunnel. It's still fairly quiet there, says Gouvenou, "all you can hear is the whirring of the chains, but then you drive out and it bangs in your ears - this cheering, this euphoria, it's sensational".
Two special finals at the Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées
In addition to the many sprints, there were two special Tour finals in 1979 and 1989. The main protagonists in July 1979 were Bernard Hinault and Joop Zoetemelk. Before the final stage, Hinault led the overall standings by 3:07 minutes ahead of his Dutch rival. Zoetemelk still saw opportunities for himself and was driven by the idea of attacking on every hill on the final day.
In the Vallée de Chevreuse, a good 40 kilometres before Paris, the two were alone in the lead, but it was Hinault who attacked again on the last climb of the race. Zoetemelk managed to catch up, which resulted in a completely astonishing scenario: the two overall leaders raced ahead of the peloton as a duo and reached Paris far ahead of everyone else. Breton Hinault, the man in yellow, eventually won the sprint on France's grand boulevard ahead of his challenger. The two rode 2:18 minutes ahead of the peloton, from which Thurau won the sprint for third place.
23 July 1989, the final stage of the 76th Tour de France was this time an individual time trial over 24.5 kilometres from Versailles to the Champs-Élysées. Before the race, Frenchman Laurent Fignon had a lead of 50 seconds in the overall standings over Greg LeMond from the USA after a varied Tour. If LeMond still wanted to win the yellow jersey, he would have to take more than two seconds per kilometre from Fignon. LeMond, who had a stem fitted to his handlebars like those used by triathletes during their cycling sessions, was elegantly positioned on his bike. Although Fignon also rode a bike with disc wheels and croissant handlebars, he did not wear a helmet.
The riders started in reverse order of the overall standings, meaning that LeMond was already at the finish while Fignon was still struggling over the cobblestones of the Champs-Élysées. Suddenly it became clear that there could still be a turnaround. Projections suddenly showed LeMond just ahead in the yellow jersey classification. Fignon already had the finish line in sight when the French television commentator shouted: "Ten seconds to go for Fignon." Five seconds later, the reporter counted backwards: "Five, four, three, two, one. Lost." Now he shouted excitedly: "Laurent Fignon has lost the Tour de France." Eight seconds later, the beaten rider crossed the finish line.
LeMond had knocked the French hero off his throne in the middle of the French capital at the very last moment - by a tiny eight seconds after 3,285 kilometres. At the podium ceremony, Fignon lowered his eyes to reveal a stunned, distraught man. He said: "I'm finished."
Trip to Nice for the Olympics
For the only time since 1975, the Champs-Élysées did not mark the end of the Tour. Last year, it ended exceptionally in Nice due to the preparations for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. However, the Paris Games presented Prudhomme and his route architect Gouvenou with a possibility that electrified them: for 2025, inspired by the Olympic road race, they are organising a three-stage detour up Montmartre, Paris's local mountain, 130 metres high but steep and difficult to negotiate in a narrow maze of alleyways and small streets. At the Games, this detour was a sensational volte-face that thrilled riders and spectators alike. "We haven't had this in our programme before. But when we saw the euphoria, we realised that we wanted to try something similar," says Gouvenou.
New Tour de France finale with Montmartre
Prudhomme explains that they have been working on the realisation of these plans since September 2024. In mid-May, the Paris city prefecture and Mayor Anne Hidalgo finally gave their approval. The peloton will first complete three classic laps of the Champs-Élysées. After that, the race will cover a 16-kilometre circuit that includes Montmartre three times, each with a climb, and then the Champs-Élysées. "The final passage to the top of Montmartre is scheduled six kilometres before the finish. So it is not certain that we will see a sprint finish," says Prudhomme.
Remco Evenepoel, one of the Tour favourites this summer, criticised this idea as too ambitious, especially as the character of the final stage would be completely changed - it would no longer be a roll-in for the final sprint, but a really tough one-day classification. Prudhomme responds to this with the pathos of a Tour boss: "Cycling showed itself to be a great national sport at the Paris Games on Montmartre. For me, this is a symbol because cycling is becoming increasingly important in the cities."
He is referring to the transport revolution that Paris is also facing. However, the Tour de France is already managing this for one day, in the heart of the city, on its much-vaunted boulevard. For 50 years now. At least for one day in July. Oh, Champs-Élysées.
