In Montmartre, residents are waiting for the passage of the Tour de France impatiently and nostalgia

The large loop will pedal on the side of rue Lepic in the 18th arrondissement of Paris for its last stage. A decor that has already seen cyclists pass during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

It was one of the strong images of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. A delirious crowd had welcomed cyclists like Remco Evenepoel, Valentin Madouas and others in their triple ascent of rue Lepic in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. This time, it is the peloton of the Tour de France which will start on the steep slopes of the Butte Montmartre. The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, he himself announced this choice of organizers.

Three passages are planned through a postcard decor for the last stage of the large loop. The Galette mill, Dalida's house and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in the background. The organizers obviously hope for the atmosphere and the action.

The peloton will arrive at the Montmartre Butte from the West. Boulevard de Clichy, the famous wings of the Moulin Rouge, a left turn, and facing the runners, the percentages and the cobblestones on rue Lepic. The president of the Montmartre Vélo Club, Nicolas Castro, knows each paving stone of the climb and he explains that “The Lepic Street has this particular that it meets the rue des Abesses so we think it is finished but not at all. It goes back to the left and this is where it is the most difficult part, with the most percentages and this is where the runners will make the differences.“

Subtlety this year: the bottom of rue Lepic was pedestrianized. It will therefore be necessary to make a detour by the Puget and Coustou streets, very narrow. A difficulty in passing three times, in an atmosphere of fire. It is in any case the promise of the organizers of the Tour who want to ride the wave of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Stéphane, Montmartrois for forty years, has a moved memory of the summer of 2024. “It was very pleasant, very relaxed. The opposite of what we thought. We were afraid of being invaded by touriststhat there may even be a little violence“With all this crowd for the Olympic Games. But finally”Everything was a kind of harmony that we would like to find in Paris all the time“, He dreams.

The district, very touristy, attracts millions of tourists every year, but on Saturday, it will be the Montmartrois themselves who will hold the top of the pavement. Nicolas Castro, from Montmartre Vélo Club says that “We are with us and we want to make it known. We are going to occupy the street, we will paint the letters MVC, the letters of the Montmartre Vélo Club, on the sidewalk. There is really this desire to represent Montmartre and to involve as many people as possible around the hill. “.

“There is really this desire to represent Montmartre and to involve as many people as possible around the hill.”

Nicolas Castro, president of the Montmartre Vélo Club

in franceinfo

Bike fans should flock to the barriers and in the many restaurants on the street. The Café des Deux Moulins is one of the most emblematic, popularized by the film Amélie Poulain. Her boss tells how the Paris 2024 race gave him unexpected visibility. “”We were even better known thanks to a German cyclist who stopped and who came to use our toilets. Everyone filmed it and it made 3.5 million views “ on social networks. For games, more than 140,000 spectators were present, according to the Paris Urban Planning Workshop. The organizers of the Tour de France hope to do at least as well.