There are few more recognisable sporting arenas than the Champs Élysées. However, its fiftieth inclusion in the Tour de France last summer saw a stage that was anything but recognisable in the history of the sport's premier stage race. Inspired by the route used during the 2024 Paris Olympics, stage 21 of the Tour featured three ascents of the cobbled Butte Montmartre before finishing on the iconic Parisian boulevard, instead of the long-used circuit around the Champs-Élysées.
Now, neither is considered easy, especially with the cobblestone terrain and infernal pace set by the bunch. However, the 2025 route drastically swung the opportunity for a stage win on one of cycling's most iconic backdrops into the hands of the puncheurs and Classics specialists and away from the out-and-out sprinters. Was this just a one-off switch to garner more fan enthusiasm for a processional stage, or a broader indication of how sprinting is changing across the sport?
The last rider to win a traditional sprint stage on the Champs Élysées in 2023, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe's Jordi Meeus, is certain that as the speed of the peloton has increased, the way sprinters ply their trade has changed.
If riders can reach higher speeds, the benefit of the draughts they create becomes more significant, the German points out. "In the past, sprinters were launching at 250 to 300m and leading all the way. Nowadays, I think sprints are a bit shorter because the approach is faster, and it's even more about the timing," he explained.
"You can be the strongest, but if you launch at the wrong moment and you catch too much wind too early, you can still get caught by some other guys."
Standing at 194cm tall, Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) might be considered one of the less versatile quickmen in the bunch, but his green jersey at last year's Tour would suggest otherwise. The Italian has also noticed a change in the number of opportunities given to the fast finishers.
"I'm always racing in new situations," he explained. "There are fewer opportunities, of course. I'm seeing maybe a little change in that there are fewer flat stages, but that's fine [for me]."
"Most sprint finishes, either they have echelons, or there is some elevation," added Biniam Girmay (NSN Cycling), another rider to have won the green jersey classification at the Tour. "It's a good thing for me, but to be honest, if you look now, all the big guys, even Milan and other guys, can climb well.
This change in parcours has clearly had a knock-on effect on how sprinters train. As Girmay continued: "If you want to be the best sprinter in the world, you don't need to be the big guy because there aren't that many flat races left anymore."
But why have traditional sprint finishes become scarcer? Sixteen-time Grand Tour stage winner Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) believes the answer is clear.
"Race organisers are changing the route as they want to make it more exciting for the public, and that counts at the end of the day. We want people to love our sport and to love watching what we're doing," the Belgian explained.
Whether that goes against the Belgian's own interests is up for debate, but Philipsen believes it opens the door for a whole host of riders to compete for the win. "[The win is] open to the more versatile riders; these kinds of parcours leave multiple race situations possible."
One rider whose versatility has led him to rapidly be considered one of the greatest riders ever to grace the sport is Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). The Slovenian's cannibalistic approach to racing has even seeped into the sprinters' territory in recent years, such as the opening stage of last season's Critérium du Dauphiné.
While Philipsen doesn't want organisers to ramp up the difficulty of a race to the extent that only a handful of riders, such as Pogačar, can contest the stage finish, he doesn't necessarily believe that the Slovenian is the root cause either. "He's just the strongest at the moment, and he will drop everyone anyway," the 27-year-old added. "If it's also about tactics, about aerodynamics, about positioning, it's not only about being the strongest."
Meeus, now teammate to another of the sport's superstars in Remco Evenepoel, added that knowing the likes of Pogačar or Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) are capable of challenging for a race win is one thing, but doing something about it is completely different.
"Nowadays, it's really hard to anticipate because the pace is so high. Guys like Pogačar or Van der Poel, they have such a strong team, and they like a hard race, so they go fast from the beginning to the end, so it's really hard to get some distance ahead."
Could it be that by adding complexity and variation into parcours, race organisers are actually hoping to balance the playing field? That looks to be their hope.
Yet, sprinting and its changing image can't be discussed without touching on safety.
As the average speed of the peloton increases, so too do the risks of crashing. A study by the UCI, as part of the SafeR project, found that 13% of crashes during the 2024 season were a result of tension generated by the approach of tactically important points in the races, such as climbs, cobbled sectors or sprints. Higher speeds and battles for the racing line mean that there is always an increased chance of crashes and collisions during race finales. But is enough being done to mitigate the risk?
In 2025, after an initial trial during the opening week of the previous year's race, the Tour de France introduced an extension of the 3km rule, which gives any rider who falls victim to a crash or mechanical within the final 3km of flatter stages the same time as the group they were with, to 5km for seven of the 2025 edition's stages. The UCI also introduced a yellow card system, with irregular sprinting, decelerating during a sprint and endangering other riders all deemed to be against the rules. Two yellow cards in 30 days result in a race disqualification and seven day ban.
However, Girmay argues that race organisers could go further to improve safety.
"The 3km rule, and sometimes 5km, why don't they put it at 10km to go? It doesn't change anything. It's flat anyway, and then we finish in the city most of the time. If you take [rider finish times] at 10km to go, we'll only have 10, nine or eight sprint teams [contending for the win], so we will be safer."
Meeus echoes the belief that while sprinter safety is moving in the right direction, more can still be done. "I think the organisers try their best, for example, with the new barriers in the big races, and removing the traffic islands. I think there's still a lot to improve, but it's definitely going in the right direction."
Girmay added that vocal members of the peloton are constantly discussing changes, whether it be in the bunch or on the riders' group chat, but fail to see them come to fruition, something he puts down to organisers' priorities.
"First, they have to think about the riders, then the business, that's important." As is often the case in cycling, the future of sprinting may come down to a battle between the needs of the riders and the wants of the fans and sponsors.
