The pace is going up, which is just as well. There are the customary huge crowds on the roadside and the French version of the Red Arrows to greet Jonas Vingegaard and his Jumbo-Visma team-mates as they lead the race on to the Champs Elysees for the first of the eight circuits.

Here we go then, the race is about to enter the finishing circuit for the first time.

Britain's Adam Yates managed a fourth-place finish on the Tour in 2016, the same year he won the white jersey as best young rider, but this will be the first time he has made it on to the podium.

Image source, EPA

It would be remiss of me to not tell you that Giulio Ciccone has just taken the final mountains point of this year's Tour. He broke off the front to get it, resplendent on his polka-dot bike.

Image source, Getty Images

I don't know about you, but I've barely had time to take a breath so far... but the race has, officially, entered the Paris suburbs.

This feels like a good to remind you how the General Classification looks after 20 stages - barring any crashes, this is how it will look in a couple of hours' time too, with Britain's Adam Yates joining Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar on the podium in Paris.

Adam, who has been working for his UAE team-mate Pogacar rather riding for himself, is set to finish one place and about 90 seconds ahead of his twin brother Simon. Chapeau to the pair of them.

General classification standings after 20 stages

1. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) 79hrs 16mins 38secs

2. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates) +7mins 29secs

3. Adam Yates (GB/UAE Team Emirates) +10mins 56secs

4. Simon Yates (GB/Team Jayco-AlUla) +12mins 23secs

5. Carlos Rodriguez (Spa/Ineos Grenadiers) +12mins 57secs

6. Pello Bilbao (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +13mins 27secs

7. Jai Hindley (Aus/Bora-Hansgrohe) +14mins 44secs

8. Felix Gall (Aut/AG2R-Citroen) +16mins 9secs

9. David Gaudu (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +23mins 8secs

10. Guillaume Martin (Fra/Cofidis) +26mins 30secs

I've been waiting for the pictures to drop of Jonas Vingegaard and his awesome Jumbo-Visma team-mates supping champagne.

Next stop for him is the top of the podium.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Not sure using the force is allowed on the Tour these days, but Darth is apparently a big cycling fan.

The champagne is being passed around... I don't think the pace is going up anytime soon.

Motorbikes have caused a few issues during this year's Tour but no problems here - the message for the race leader (and soon to be race winner) is written in his native Danish and simply says 'congratulations, Jonas'. (not 'thanks, Jonas' as I wrote earlier... thanks do go Adam Carter though, because he tweeted me to let me know).

Image source, Reuters

Still nothing much happening on the road to Paris, apart from 150 riders pedalling extremely slowly. I think we can let them off, though, bearing in mind what they have been up to for the past three weeks.

Things won't really speed up until we reach the French capital, when there will be 67km to go, and the racing only really starts when when enter the final circuit for the first time, with about 55km to go.

Until then, um, no real need to hang on to your hats.

The Tour de France Femmes got started in Clermont-Ferrand today and Belgian national champion Lotte Kopecky took a brilliant solo victory on stage one.

You can read all about where the race will be won in our stage-by-stage guide, here.

Image source, Getty Images

This is how the jerseys lined up at the start-line... the only one of them with anything to fight for today is the man in green, Belgium's Jasper Philipsen, who will go for his fifth sprint win of this year's Tour in Paris later - he won there last year too.

You (hopefully) already know who the man in yellow is, but his arch-rival Tadej Pogacar has the consolation of wearing the white jersey for best young rider,.

The man with a polka dot jersey - and polka dot everything else - Giulio Ciccone is the King of the Mountains, while popular French rider Thibaut Pinot is riding his final Tour so gets in on the pic as well.

Image source, EPA

Victor Campenaerts attacked from the moment the race got started... he's only joking though, and quickly sits up.

The Belgian, who has been seemingly ever-present on every breakaway I can remember in this final week, and launched a string of attacks, has been awarded the Tour's super combative award for this year's race.

That's the prize given to the most combative rider... so he can get away with japes like that.

Yes, the Tour ends today with its traditional ceremonial final stage, and the celebrations have already begun for some of the 150 riders to make it this far - 176 of them started out in the Basque Country on 1 July, so there's plenty who haven't.

Expect to see the overall winner and his Jumbo-Visma team-mates sip champagne and ride in an extremely leisurely fashion towards Paris, before eight frenetic laps on the Champs-Elysees circuit and a sprint finish on the cobbles.

At the moment the pace could not be much slower, but a fast finish awaits.

Image source, Tour de France

The 21st and final stage of this year's Tour de France is just getting under way.

The riders have just rolled through the neutral zone near the velodrome of St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, and this was the scene at the start... all smiles, basically.

So, the 110th Tour de France is almost done.

After three weeks of fast and furious racing, we already know our winner.

Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard will take a second successive title after seeing off the challenge of his arch-rival Tadej Pogacar in the final week.

Vingegaard will top the podium in Paris later but, before then, he will crack open the champagne on today's processional ride into the French capital, before the sprinters contest the win on the Champs Elysees.

Image source, EPA