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Stage by stage
stage 20 - Rambouillet 
Paris Champs-Élysées
120 km
Sunday 22 July
Paris Champs-Élysées
120 km
Sunday 22 July
Plain - A sporting perspective
Christian Prudhomme’s Analysis
This promises to be a very emotional stage, with the memory of the final start in Yvelines and the last time-trial won by Greg LeMond in 1989. Although there may be slightly less suspense there, many thrills are guaranteed on the final circuit. An adventure will come to an end for all the riders who take this route, and the handful of sprinters who are competing for the victory will provide a performance that is always entertaining.
Rambouillet
• Stage town on 1 previous occasion
• 26,000 inhabitants
• Subprefecture of Yvelines (78)
The scenario of the 1996 Tour de France was marked by the unsuccessful fight between Poulidor and Anquetil, which allowed Lucien Aimar to win the Yellow Jersey by taking advantage of a breakaway which caught out most of the favourites. The wild card of the Ford team, he was completely free to do what he wanted after his leader Anquetil retired. However he still had to hold out against Janssen and Poulidor in the Tour’s final time-trial, which took place on the last day between Rambouillet and Paris. In the final stretch, Aimar kept his 1’07’’ lead over Janssen. More recently, the start stages of Paris-Nice have also been organised in Yvelines. In 2010, the prologue from Montfort l’Amaury and the stage from Houdon in 2011 were won by the Dutch rider Lars Boom and Belgium’s Thomas De Gendt respectively.
• www.rambouillet.fr
• www.yvelines.fr
• www.tourisme.yvelines.fr
Paris Champs-Élysées
• Traditional final finish town of the Tour de France
• 37 finishes on the Champs-élysées
• 2, 200, 000 inhabitants
• Capital of France and county town of the Île-de-France Region
• Commune-department and prefecture of the Île-de-France Region (75)
One day per year, the most visited city in the world abandons its habits to welcome the Tour’s riders. Its historic centre, where the final circuit of the last stage has been set up since 1975, will in turn travel to 190 countries, by means of television screens. In the last few years, the Champs-Élysées has found its champion: Mark Cavendish, the winner of the green jersey in 2011, finished first there last year. The British sprinter has achieved three of his twenty stage victories in Paris, but is still behind Eddy Merckx’s record (34).