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Paris Champs-Élysées
164 km
Sunday 26 July
The Paris stage has always meant success for some, relief for many others. Winning on the Champs-Élysées is a distinguished achievement. The home stretch on the incomparably prestigious “world’s most beautiful avenue” is always exciting, whether a sprinter or a finisher wins.
The Collegiate church Notre-Dame seen from the Yonne edges© J.P Chasseau
• 2-time stage-town
• Population 18,000
• County town of Seine-et-Marne canton (77)
Situated at the confluence of the Seine and the Yonne rivers, Montereau-Fault-Yonne has forged itself a vibrant identity, the product of the dynamics of its two rivers and the tumult of its historical past. From the Neolithic period to the Liberation, from the Hundred Years War to the Industrial Revolution, life in the town has been governed by historical events. In 1814, Napoleon fought one of his final epic battles here, his victory immortalised by an equestrian statue erected between the two bridges that span the town’s rivers. At the end of the 19th century, Montereau became a leading industrial centre and the stoneware manufacture a cornerstone in the town’s industrial legacy of skilled craftsmanship. In the 1950s, the town experienced considerable economic growth and, since the middle of the 1990s, has enjoyed a new economic dynamism: creation of commerce in logistics and local community public services, leading efforts in the creation of jobs and education, renaissance of a rich and ambitious cultural programme, notably with the Montereau Confluences music festival, in June. In short, Montereau-Fault-Yonne is a town more than ever open and accessible to everyone, a town where the art of living is a true vocation.
The leading runners on the Champs-Élysées© Fred Mons - Presse Sport
• Traditional finish of the Tour de France
• Population 2,200,000
• Capital of France
• County town of the Ile-de-France Region - City-department of the Seine (75)
The city of Paris is fond of cycling and is delighted to stage the ultimate sprint of the Tour de France heroes once again this year in its stunning location. What finer finish imaginable than one that traverses the magnificent avenue of the Champs-Elysées? And, if the length and breadth of Paris can be covered in two hours on foot, it will take the Tour riders far less time to accomplish their heroics. This magnificent celebration that rallies Parisians and the entire French nation particularly enables us to honour the sport of cycling in all its multiple forms, and notably another popular and audacious adventure: Vélib’ (self service cycle transportation service) that already totals 43 million journeys and 170 000 users, figures that will presently be multiplied with the recent extension of the venture to 30 communes adjacent to Paris. The 400 kilometres of cycle paths are accessible to all and this network will be extended by an additional 200 kilometres, to be completed by the year 2014. It is hence with immense pleasure that Paris lends its streets to cycling fans, and notably the Tour athletes that enchant and enthral us year after year.
