Montmartre, “onley fans”, absence of suspense … What we loved and not liked on this edition

The Tour de France ended on Sunday with the expected coronation of Tadej Pogacar, the 4th for Slovenian, in six participations.

Here is the saddest day of the year, as Christian Prudhomme calls him: Monday following the end of the Tour de France. The 112nd edition of the Grande Boucle ended, Sunday, July 27, on the Champs-Elysées, with the 4th coronation of Tadej Pogacar. After three weeks spent on the hexagonal roads, from Lille to Paris, passing through Normandy, Brittany, the Pyrenees, Mont Ventoux, the Alps and the Jura, here is what Franceinfo: Sport retains.

We loved it: Montmartre and Van Aert victory

The peloton did not want it, the public dreamed of it. For the first time in its history, the Tour de France has climbed the Butte Montmartre three times, Sunday, July 27, before sez concluded on the classic arrival of the Champs-Elysées. A novelty that made a shattering entry into the history of the Grande Boucle, with an even stronger popular fervor than during the Olympic Games. And above all magnified by the anthology duel between Tadej Pogacar, yellow jersey on the back, and Wout Van Aert.

Accustomed to scratching on the classics, the two men delivered a dantesque showdown on rue Lepic, in the rain, which turned in favor of the Belgian. Already the winner of an anthology stage on the last Giro, Wout Van Aert thus returned to the victory on the Tour, for the 10th time in his career. A fair reward for those who have so often turned into a luxury teammate.

We liked: the inventiveness of the signs

“Onley fans” For Oscar Onley supporters, “There is cider on arrival, pedal like never before!“In Normandy, “I have a sign” for a falsely uninspired supporter, “Mathieu sells hens” and his cousin “Remco wants chickens” By friends in Toulouse … You have outdone yourself on the side of the roads to create the best signs possible. In his village, Kévin Vauquelin even had the right to a hot air balloon in his effigy, an unprecedented idea, of his family. It changes “go Alain Philippe”, funny for a while but a little too seen and reviewed. And in addition, a sign can also serve as protection against the cold, isn't that Julian Alaphilippe?

We liked: the freshness wind brought by certain runners

Behind the Pogacar, Vingegaard, Van Aert or Van der Poel, they were not necessarily among the stars of the peloton before the Tour de France, but proved to be in the eyes of the general public. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), Oscar Onley (Picnic-Postnl), Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B & B Hotels), or Jordan Jegat (Totalenergies) animated the race in the general classification and made a name for themselves with the public. The first, already third of the Dauphinéterm xe And white jersey, in front of onley. Kévin Vauquelin hung on to make a very good tour of France concluded by a Xe Place, having wore the white jersey. By his freshness and his way of speaking without filter, he has become one of the darlings of the French. And Jordan Jegat manages to climb up to a surprising Xe Placethe best result for totalnergies since 2015 (Pierre Rolland, 10th). Without forgetting the Italian Jonathan Milan, a green jersey from his first participation in the Tour de France.

We liked: the first week

Starting from the Hauts-de-France, the large loop was not taking a risk: between the heat of the Northerners and the love of the bicycle of the Belgian, Dutch and British neighbors, the atmosphere could only be there. Despite the rain, it was. And that was not all. Because if the Tour avoided the northern cobblestones, the course designed by Thierry Gouvenou has not disappointed, with coasts to energize the first stages. This was also the case then in Normandy, with there also spectacular routes and a madness audience. Before the Breton fireworks, more anticipated, in Mûr-de-Bretagne. In other words, the first week of this 2025 Tour de France was the one not to be missed. Like what: it's not just the Pyrenees and the Alps in life.

We did not like: the lack of suspense

Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard may repeat that “The round is not over” Whenever the Slovenian scraped seconds on the Danish, the suspense did not last long. The organizers had wanted to return the first week more spectacular by finding coasts in the North, Normandy, or in Brittany, before cutting a time trial in Caen thought to offer the yellow jersey to Remco Evenepoel. Missed. The man of this first week was already Tadej Pogacar. At the exit of the Pyrenees, the Slovenian had already folded the tour with four stage victories and more than four minutes in advance to the general. Apart from a fall or a terrible cravings, he had already race won before the Ventoux and the Alps. Damage.

We did not like: transfers too long between the stages

In addition to 3,338.8 kilometers by bicycle, the runners of the Tour de France have traveled more than 3,000 kilometers on their bus, to reach the cities departure of the next day from the arrival cities. A record figure for an edition of the large loop fully disputed in France. Two hours between Dunkirk and Amiens, two hours between Laval and Chinon, two hours between Châteauroux and Ennezat, two and a half hours between La Plagne and Nantua …

Enough to delay care, dinner and bedtime, and add fatigue both to runners and to followers. But the palm returns to the 3h30 drive between Mont-Dore and Toulouse, on July 14, on the eve of the first day of rest, with teams that sometimes arrived beyond 11 p.m. at the hotel in the pink city, which prevented the runners from bed early and reduced the beneficial effects of a day of rest. All without counting the timeless (and endless) traffic jams at the exit of the mountain stages.

We did not like: the time of Peyragudes

Let's be frank: the time trial do not unleash passions, whether for followers or for runners, apart from exercise specialists and contenders in the general classification. But then, when a time is organized on an ascent of the 1st category like between Loudenvielle and Peyragudes, the handful of runners interested in victory further decreases. On such a journey, specialists like French champion Bruno Armirail or the European Champion Edoardo Affini had no chance of appearing in the Top 10.

The victory was going to be played, for sure, between the leaders of the general classification. The only suspense could have resided in whether sprinters would be eliminated, outside the deadline, such as the Green Jersey Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek). But, even that, there was no suspense after the organizers' decision, a few minutes before departure, to extend the deadlines to allow everyone to arrive in time. “Really disappointing”in the words of Wout Van Aert, after a time trial of which 99% of the peloton had nothing to do, won by the inevitable Tadej Pogacar.