Tour Down Under Men

Can this year's possibly live up to last? We've got Van der Poel, Pogacar, Pedersen and Remco. Of course it can!

Yes, they've cut out the long slow bit at the start, but the fun part remains. Seven laps of the Champs Elysees followed by three assaults on the Cote de la Butte Montmartre. The Cote first appeared on the Olympic road race route in 2024, and such a hit was it, that the Tour organizers found a way to bring it back with 160+ knackered racers thundering around it at the end of the biggest bike race on the planet.

The loops of the Arc de Triomphe satisfy the traditionalists, while those of us who found the procession boring are treated to some actual racing. Can this year live up to last? It's Remco's first time back since winning Olympic gold. He's going to give it a crack, isn't it?

Here's how the rider made their way to the nation's capital last evening.

While the race has been given plenty of credit for not flying them, as they used to, I somewhat suspect it might have to do with the law banning domestic flights between cities where a viable train alternative is available. Not to be a Debbie Downer, because I definitely approve all the same.

Because I haven't. That was a beast of a stage to cover from my couch. What must it have been like to ride? While I don't think any of the riders will have been disappointed to learn that today's stage was to be shortened by 44km, none will have welcomed the circumstances that forced it. The wildfires engulfing SW France have demanded resource from elsewhere in the country, including Paris.

This has served to remind us not only that there are more important things than the Tour de France but that, like the first week of extreme heat, climate change is increasingly going to be something the race has to deal with. For now it's a shortening of the route, in future it might mean moving it to later or earlier in the calendar.

Fortunately the skies have smiled on the Tour today. It's a relatively clement 24 degrees and cloudy this late afternoon in Paris. Perfect conditions for bike racing.

Good afternoon and welcome to live text coverage of the 21st and final stage of the men’s Tour de France 2026. It's been an arduous three weeks for all concerned, and today it comes to an end. It's been a Tour of triumphs and tragedy, thrills and spills, meaningful moments we'll remember for a long time and others we might prefer to leave on the road, heroes and villains. Tadej Pogacar arrives on the roads of the French having reinforced his place in the pantheon of great, a predictable champion but no less a conquering one for that.

Today he could play it safe, proceed to the finish line with his arms around his team-mates, but when have we known to do that? Yesterday? Well, sure. But this is the Champs Elysées, Montmartre, and the chance to do battle with his greatest nemesis, Mathieu van de Poel. This might be the best yet. Why would you want to miss a moment?