It is the dream of every Tour rider, especially first-timers. They all repeat it, like Bretagne-Seche's Florian Vachon. "When you're not a super sprinter or a great climber, making it to Paris is already a great achievement."

And France's Vachon can be proud, with all his team-mates, to reach Paris without losing a rider at the end of this edition to which they had been invited.

They will normally be 164 to complete the Tour, which is five less than last year but 11 more than in 2012. Not so bad for a race described as the toughest in recent history.

"Lanterne rouge" of this edition, Cheng Ji was the first Chinese to enter the race and will now be forever the first Chinese to finish it.

Some evoke with emotion their first finish on the Champs-Elysees, like Eddy Seigneur, who won on the Parisian avenue in 1994 and is now team director for IAM:

"I came on the Champs last, exhausted, and then I found myself into a break that went all the way. I sprinted for an unforgettable win. That's the beauty of the sport!"

Others dream of new laurels, like the Giant Shimano team of last year's winner  Marcel Kittel:

"It's an exceptional memory. And you've had the taste of it, you want to do it again," said team director Christian Guiberteau.

For others then, the finish is a sort of relief after a Tour that did not go as planned, like Team Sky manager Dave Brailsford, who had won the two previous editions with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome:

"When you win twice in succession, everything seems to be easy. This Tour was a reminder of all the hard work done in the past to succeed. It also made us more human probably."