Cycling: Final stage of the Tour de France - Tadej Pogacar set to clinch fourth title in Paris on Sunday
by Devesh Jaganath | by Devesh Jaganath
Tour de France: Stage 21 overview
The final stage of the 2025 Tour de France gets underway in the small town of Mantes-la-Ville, with the riders heading east toward Paris. The first climb comes less than 10km from the start, the Cote de Bazemont, which ascends 1.7km, and you can check out our experts’ thoughts for the stage on our Tour de France 2025 prediction.
Another 700m climb follows at the Cote du Pave des Gardes before the riders head on a short descent to enter the circuit in Paris, which they will need to complete three laps of, meaning in essence, they will effectively cross the finish line on the Champs-Elysees three times.
One of the major talking points ahead of this year’s Tour de France was the climb to Montmartre, which most in-tune cycling fans will recall was used in last year’s Olympic Games. Riders will need to tackle this three times, a significant shift from the norm during previous champagne stages.
Climbs:
10 km: Cote de Bazemont (1.7 kilometres at 7%)
45.9 km: Cote du Pave des Gardes (700 metres at 9.7%)
92.7 km, 109.5 km, 126.2 km: Cote du la Butte Montmartre (1.1 kilometres at 5.9%)
Pogacar poised for back-to-back titles
Heading into stage 21 of the Tour de France on Sunday, Tadej Pogacar is the race leader with a time of 69 hours, 41 minutes, 46 seconds, and is the favourite to claim his second consecutive victory and fourth of his career, according to the best online betting sites.
The Slovenian holds a lead of four minutes and 24 seconds over 2022 and 2023 champion Jonas Vingegaard, while stage 20 winner, Australian Kaden Groves, was unable to get into the top 10 despite his heroic performance on Saturday.
Pogacar broke Peter Sagan’s record for the most jerseys won in this historic race after clinching stage 18 last week and would love nothing more than to sign off by adding another stage win to his name on the final day.
Unfortunately, we will not see Mathieu van der Poel on Sunday, with the Alpecin–Deceuninck rider already back in the Netherlands, but there are still plenty of explosive performers remaining in the likes of Wout van Aert, Quinn Simmons and Julian Alaphilippe.
Date: Sunday, July 27
Distance: 132.3km
Start location: Mantes-la-Ville
Finish location: Paris
