{"id":2068874,"date":"2026-07-29T08:39:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2068874"},"modified":"2026-07-29T08:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:39:22","slug":"champagne-parties-and-criteriums-how-tour-de-france-riders-celebrate-after-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2068874","title":{"rendered":"Champagne, Parties and Criteriums: How Tour de France Riders Celebrate After Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated July 29, 2026 03:34AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What really happens after the Tour de France? Well, things can get weird, wild, and sometimes downright wacky.<\/p>\n

The Tour is the most demanding sporting event on earth.<\/p>\n

For three weeks, it\u2019s relentless racing, high-speed crashes, strict diets, early bedtimes, and constant pressure to perform in the only bike race that goes global.<\/p>\n

Then, almost in an instant, it\u2019s over.<\/p>\n

The finish line in Paris marks the end of months of monk-like sacrifice in what was the fastest Tour de France on the books. No wonder these guys just want to have fun.<\/p>\n

The finish line vibes on the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es are unique in sport.<\/p>\n

With the roads of France serving as the Tour\u2019s outdoor stadium, perhaps it\u2019s appropriate that it ends with the biggest street party in Europe.<\/p>\n

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7:45 p.m. The finish on the Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es<\/h2>\n
\"Brandon
McNulty and his partner joined his teammates in Paris to celebrate Poga\u010dar\u2019s victory.<\/span> (Photo: Jean Catuffe\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unless you\u2019re Mathieu van der Poel and the handful of riders still racing for the stage, the celebration begins long before the finish line.<\/p>\n

Even with the new thrilling Montmartre circuit, most of the peloton can finally chill once they roll into Paris.<\/p>\n

By the final lap, riders were high-fiving fans, popping wheelies and soaking in the atmosphere. The 2026 Tour de France was almost over.<\/p>\n

Of the 184 starters who left Barcelona, some 158 of them arrived in Paris. Another Grande Boucle<\/em> \u2014 the big loop \u2014 was in the bags.<\/p>\n

For one night at least, they can be 20-somethings again. Family, friends, wives, kids and even a few pets flood onto the Champs \u00c9lys\u00e9es.<\/p>\n

Everyone poses for team photos and selfies on cycling\u2019s most famous finishing straight.<\/p>\n

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Brandon McNulty, who abandoned the Tour due to exhaustion and illness in the Alps, was back to celebrate with this UAE Emirate-XRG teammates. Hair dyed yellow (or Eminem blond, we\u2019re not sure).<\/p>\n

The Tour peloton can finally cut loose.<\/p>\n

8:30 p.m.: Pizza time<\/h2>\n

The Champs erupts into celebration of champagne, hugs, and backslaps.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the official podium, team photos, celebratory laps on the Champs, and toasts around the team bus. A few final interviews remain, but the riders are ready to let the pundits make sense of it all.<\/p>\n

They just want a beer.<\/p>\n

YouTube stars Tour de Tietema once again handed out loads of pizzas to the peloton outside the team buses.<\/p>\n

Nobody was happier than Quinn Simmons.<\/p>\n

Last year, he dropped to one knee on the Champs \u00c9lys\u00e9es to propose to his girlfriend. This year, he rocked into Paris wearing the \u201cRicky Bobby\u201d tracksuit he\u2019d swapped with a fan for his Lidl-Trek jersey and race number.<\/p>\n

After five breakaways and following team orders, Simmons looked more interested in pepperoni than podiums. He happily rode into the night balancing several pizza boxes and his wife on his bike.<\/p>\n

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Tour de Tietema also delivered two pizzas to Remco Evenepoel as a reward for finishing second overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes Tadej only get one?\u201d Evenepoel joked.<\/p>\n

For at least one night, they can celebrate the magic of racing in cycling\u2019s biggest bike race.<\/p>\n

10 p.m.: Team dinners<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Richard
Carapaz celebrates two stage wins and the best climber\u2019s jersey. <\/span> (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s amazing how fast the Tour is dismantled, packed up, and stored away for another year.<\/p>\n

The scaffolding and finish line podium infrastructure is gone within hours. Crews sweep up any trash and the Tour is already a memory by the morning rush hour traffic on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Mechanics have one more long night packing up bikes and storing gear. The team buses head to the hotels, and by Monday, they\u2019re either back to the service course<\/em> or off to the next races.<\/p>\n

The riders head to the team hotels for a quick shower and change into civilian clothes for the first time in nearly a month.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s one last night together inside the Tour bubble before everyone scatters across Europe and beyond. Families join the celebrations, sponsors make toasts, and soigneurs<\/em>, mechanics and staff finally get to chill alongside the riders.<\/p>\n

Tadej Poga\u010dar celebrated his fifth Tour win with his UAE Emirates-XRG teammates with a dinner overlooking the Eiffel Tower, joined by members of the Emirati royal family.<\/p>\n

That scene repeated itself across dozens of hotels and restaurants across Paris late into the night.<\/p>\n

Midnight: Paris finally lets loose<\/b><\/h2>\n

After weeks and months of discipline, team dinners inevitably morph into parties.<\/p>\n

There is one disco in central Paris where many of the riders congregate \u2014 we won\u2019t mention the name to protect the innocent \u2014 and the party runs until the sun comes up. It\u2019s quite something to see sunburned, 57-kilo riders trying to dance to reggaeton.<\/p>\n

Even Poga\u010dar \u2014 already cool after the most relaxed Tour of his five wins \u2014 was ready to unplug.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t wait to get home. I go to Slovenia for \u2018Pogi Crit\u2019 and Ur\u0161ka goes to the Tour de France Femmes,\u201d he said. \u201cDancing on the tables, yes!\u201d<\/p>\n

2:30 a.m.: Finally bed<\/b><\/h2>\n

Evenepoel pulled back the curtain on his post-Tour hijinks by posting a series of Instagram photos.<\/p>\n

\u201cEn d\u00e9tente,\u201d he wrote, relaxing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Evenepoel and wife Oumi stayed in the iconic Le Meurice hotel after celebrating with the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team. Second place was better than anyone could have expected.<\/p>\n

Cost for one night? Between 1,650 and 7,700 euros, depending on the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had another party with the team, with some food and drinks. A small celebration,\u201d Evenepoel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, I was in my bed at 2:30. But it\u2019s not too bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

It went later than that for some.<\/p>\n

Less than 24 hours later: Racing a crit<\/b><\/h2>\n
\"Evenepoel
Evenepoel raced a pair of criteriums on Monday and Tuesday after finishing second in the 2026 Tour de France. <\/span> (Photo: Getty Images) \/ Belgium OUT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Evenepoel barely had time to sleep off the hangover, if he had one. He was up early the next morning (check his Instagram feed for the sumptuous breakfast spread).<\/p>\n

On Monday evening, barely 24 hours after finishing the Tour, Evenepoel was already back racing, lining up before roughly 70,000 fans at a criterium in Aalst.<\/p>\n

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On Tuesday he repeated the routine with another \u201cvictory\u201d in Roeselare ahead of another dozen big-name Tour pros.<\/p>\n

By Thursday, he\u2019s back training.<\/p>\n

On Saturday he races the Cl\u00e1sica San Sebasti\u00e1n. What a beast.<\/p>\n

The tradition is changing<\/b><\/h2>\n

Post-Tour crit\u00e9riums, however, are quickly becoming a page from cycling\u2019s past. There are still a dozen or so crits this week , but nothing like the booming circuit of the Merckx-Hinault eras.<\/p>\n

According to L\u2019\u00c9quipe<\/i>, Van der Poel is skipping the criterium circuit this year, and Poga\u010dar is expected to do the same.<\/p>\n

Decades ago, Tour winners spent weeks touring Belgium, the Netherlands, and northern France stuffing their jerseys full of cash that could round out their meager salaries.<\/p>\n

Today, top stars earn well into seven figures with salaries and sponsorship deals, so perhaps the extra paydays are just not worth the hassle of another week of caravanning around France.<\/p>\n

Still, big names like Poga\u010dar can draw six figures for an appearance, and podium finishers such as Evenepoel or Carapaz reportedly collect around $25,000 to $50,000 per event.<\/p>\n

Back to reality<\/b><\/h2>\n
\"UAE
UAE Emirates-XRG celebrates a fifth Tour de France win with Poga\u010dar.<\/span> (Photo: Alex Broadway\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not everyone celebrated the same way.<\/p>\n

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Nineteen-year-old Paul Seixas kept things considerably quieter. According to the French media, he celebrated with a team dinner. No word if he ended up dancing on the tables in some Paris disco.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildhood dream. Hard work. Determination. And an incredible team by my side,\u201d he wrote after finishing fourth overall.<\/p>\n

Victor Campenaerts perhaps summed up best the strange emotional disconnect that comes after three weeks inside the Tour bubble.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tour de France is over,\u201d he said in his last Tour vlog. \u201cIt\u2019s very strange for me now. I will have to carry my own luggage and drive my own car.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated July 29, 2026 03:34AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Z8B_9373.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated July 29, 2026 03:34AM What really happens after the Tour de France? Well, things can get weird, wild, and sometimes downright wacky. The Tour is the most demanding sporting event on earth. For three weeks, it\u2019s relentless racing, high-speed crashes, strict diets, early bedtimes, and constant pressure to perform […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2068874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2068874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2068874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2068874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2068874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}