In Montmartre, the large loop resurrected the Olympic fervor

A year after the Paris Olympics, and for the first time in its history, the Tour de France climbed the Butte Montmartre three times, before the arrival in the Champs-Elysées on Sunday.

Montmartre: Paris succeeded. By integrating the triple ascent of rue Lepic on the menu of its last stage, before arrival in the Champs-Elysées, Sunday July 27, the Tour de France wanted to revive the memory of the Paris Olympic Games, which had paved the way on rue Lepic. But the big loop was stronger than that. While this initiative in particular divided the peloton, it gave birth to an even more astounding popular fervor than during the online races of the 2024 Olympics.

“Montmartre will make the Tour de France and its champions radiate”anticipated Christian Purdhomme in May. The director of the Tour de France has seen right. Black of the world, the Butte Montmartre has ignited for the passage of the Grande Boucle, even more than for the Olympic test gallop of the summer of 2024. A day of madness, which has surely opened a new tradition. Because if we celebrate this Sunday the 50th anniversary of the arrival on the Champs-Elysées, we will undoubtedly celebrate those of the passage by Montmartre in 2075, given the spectacle of the day.

At first glance, this Sunday, however, was nothing historic, on the Butte Montmartre. Under a gray sky, tourists flocked to the Sacré-Coeur, following guides who recited their text mechanically in their microphones. Local residents, morning jogging, nothing exceptional … The only index of the madness day that was going to follow: a truck stamped Tour de France, parked at the foot of the Sacré-Coeur.

“Why are they there?”wondered a Spanish tourist. “”They go back the Olympic Games! “, Welcomed him with a local resident, very happy to see the big loop climb the rue Lepic three times, as did the Olympic cycling races in the summer of 2024. “It reminds us of beautiful memories, we can't wait to relive them!”he added, accompanied by an accordion melody a bit cliché. The violinist in Place des Abbesses played his usual repertoire, while Steinkerque Street Souvenir stores unpacking their entire stock of derivative products to the glory of the Grande Boucle. “The caravan spends what time?”called us a passer-by, disappointed to learn that the latter stopped his race at the Champs-Elysées, without taking the loop on the hill.

For the past week, Elouan, barely major Breton and his parents, have been following the Route du Tour, and have therefore been able to fill up on goodies: “Paris was on our way back, so we couldn't miss Montmartre. We arrived this morning to visit, before trying to find a place in Lepic Street, and go down quickly to the Champs-Elysées to see the podium”he explained, a sign to the glory of Kévin Vauquelin in the back.

From the first lights of the day, rue Lepic had been taken by storm. “I missed the Olympic Games, I didn't want to miss the tour! We arrived at 8 am this morning, even before they set up the barriers, but we were not the first”thus testified Laurent, fifty -year -old from Colombes, after having identified the premises the day before, to find the best view. Others, like Ronan, were already there for the Olympic race: “We were a few meters below, on the sidewalk opposite. We wanted to relive this, even if it had to get up very early“Explained the Breton.

Already at the side of the road for the arrival in Mûr-de-Bretagne, at the start of the round, the Band of Bretons was salt in advance: “The atmosphere promises to be so beautiful, everything is in place to relive the same day of madness in any case, with, we hope, a Frenchman first. Last year there were a lot of Belgians and Dutch, this year it is we Bretons who invade Paris”.

On the pavement, around sixty volunteers were busy to streamline pedestrian traffic, accompanied by dozens of police officers. A year after the happy Bazaar on rue Lepic, where the crowd had dangerously piled up, the events were, this time, better supervised. This did not prevent the crowd from being even more than during the Olympic Games, when foreign supporters had transformed the steps of the basilica into a football stadium.

“I saw the images of the Olympic Games, I told my wife that we couldn't miss it. We came for two days with the family. We have already matured, it was like the Alpe d'Huez. And here it will be even crazier.”

Thierry, 59 ans

In Franceinfo: Sport

Throughout the afternoon, the crowd only enlarged. The sound din with it. Some even tried skiing on the cobblestones made sliding by the rain, invited surprise in the late afternoon. Then the Patrol of France and the first official vehicles increased the temperature of a notch, quickly followed by the helicopters. A warm -up, before the eruption of the Montmartre hill, in madness at the first pass of the peloton.

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Especially since it was Julian Alaphilippe who gave himself the luxury of going on the lead, just to sublimate a little more this final of already mythical. The Tadej Pogacar yellow jersey then imitated it during the second pass, giving the air of Roman triumph to Lepic Street, which has become a furnace worthy of the biggest Alpine passes for a day. But on the Champs-Elysées, it was the Belgian Wout Van Aert who raised his arms, for the second time in his career here, having taken the upper hand in a masterful way on the Slovenian in the third ascent of rue Lepic. If the photos will be less beautiful than those of the games, because of the rain, the party was even more successful. While waiting for next year?