Following the only long transfer this year (about 240km), the final stage starts south of Paris in the country town of Étampes (population 26,000), which locals call “little Venice” because of its 1,000-year-old churches and small creeks. The course winds its way to the north, hitting two steep, short Cat. 4 hills trough the Chevreuse Valley before entering the city of Paris (population 2.1 million, with another 7.5 million in the metro area) on the right bank of the Seine River. It all concludes with eight laps of the famous 6.5km circuit up and down the Champs-Élysées, past the Louvre museum and across the Place de la Concorde.