A departure on July 5 from Lille, two time trials including one on a hill, seven summit finishes and a conclusion on the Champs Elysées afterwards, perhaps a final extended stage in Paris: these are the main features of a route which revives a certain tradition after three consecutive departures abroad.
We already knew that the Tour was going to start from Lille and that it was going to finish on the Champs-Elysées, returning to the program after a “magnificent getaway” (dixit Christian Prudhomme) in Nice in 2024, Olympic Games oblige.
It could be that the last stage will be inspired by the fantastic road race of the Olympic Games this summer in the streets of Paris to experience a new route, in addition to the traditional tours of the Champs-Elysées, with perhaps an incursion on the Montmartre hill.
“We saw the strength of road cycling. It was wonderfully and wonderfully popular. The Olympic Games made it possible to do things that seemed impossible. If it could make it possible to do things with another magnificent, but annual event, I wouldn’t be sick of it”, explains the Tour director.
However, the discussions between the Tour organizers, the Paris town hall and the police headquarters are difficult and optimism is not necessarily in order.
For the rest, the geography of France imposes on the Tour a route which seems to be divided into two parts: flat to begin with, mountainous to finish.
“The first stage seems promised to the sprinters who will have the opportunity for the first time in five years to take the yellow jersey. But after that we put potatoes everywhere. Thierry (Gouvenou, the Tour tracer) did not leave a coast aside between Lille and Brittany.”
A hill time
A very flat time trial over 33 km in Caen will serve as the first justice of the peace. Two days later, the arrival at Mûr-de-Bretagne will be another highlight, before the Tour plunges towards Puy-de-Dôme and the Pyrenees.
These promise to be difficult with an arrival at the summit at Hautacam, the day before an 11 km hill test between Loudenvielle and the Peyragudes altiport.
The next day, things get even tougher with a first arrival at Superbagnères since 1989, preceded by the climbs of Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde for a royal sequence which will necessarily sort things out.
Return to Ventoux
The Tour will then head towards the Alps, returning first to Mont Ventoux, one of its great myths. This will be the first arrival at the summit of the giant of Provence since 2013 since the 2016 stage was cut short due to the wind.
The main stage is scheduled for Thursday July 24 with the climbs of the Col du Glandon, Col de la Madeleine and the arrival at the top of the formidable Col de la Loze, a new classic for a gargantuan height difference of 5,500 meters.
A new odyssey awaits the riders the next day between Albertville and La Plagne where the winner of the 2025 edition should be known since Saturday’s day towards Pontarlier, promised to the adventurers, should not upset the general classification.
“The mountain stages are really very, very difficult and that will somehow compensate for the days on the plains. But we shouldn’t have a day without on the plains because it could be paid for in cash,” summarizes Thierry Gouvenou.
As for who the course is best suited to, the course architect is categorical: “We have never seen an average rider win the Tour de France. At the moment Pogacar is above the rest. On any terrain he would do well. And so he will get through it next year. But there is good hope of seeing Vingegaard return to his best level too.”
Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France.Photo EPA/MaxPPP.
Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France: ‘We put potatoes everywhere’
What is special about this 2025 edition?
She is 100% French after three major departures abroad. There is not a millimeter outside the borders. Some will say: “100% French? You surprise me, it should be like that all the time. Father Prudhomme is the European, he always wants to leave abroad”. But I claim these departures from abroad which allow the Tour and France to shine.
You have to wait until the 10th stage to see the mountain. Will we be bored at first?
When we see that we are arriving at Rouen, at Vire, at Boulogne, at the seaside, we say to ourselves: all that is flat. But not at all. We have a first week of plain pretending. We didn’t leave a single coast aside, from Lille to Brittany. The second stage ends in Boulogne-sur-Mer, but with three climbs in the last ten kilometers. On the fourth day, we have four climbs in the last thirty kilometers. On the Vire stage, there is a 3,500 meter difference in altitude. We did the maximum that an organizer could do to seek out difficulties. We put potatoes everywhere we could.
Sprint finishes are no longer popular?
It’s not that we no longer want to see sprinters win. But we don’t want nothing to happen. During the last Tour de France, there were stages without the slightest attack. This is why we also reduced the overall mileage of the flat stages, by around fifteen kilometers on average.
Would offering paved sectors in the North also have made it possible to break the routine?
We made the choice not to lay the paving stones on the first or second day so as not to take the risk of losing a favorite from the start. We chose the ribs. I’m excited about this week.
The Pyrenees and the Alps promise to be difficult with the addition of Mont Ventoux?
Already, we will have a Pyrenean sandwich with two straight stages and in the middle an 11 km time trial, including 8 uphill, to the Peyragudes altiport. We return to Superbagnères after a Tourmalet-Aspin-Peyresourde sequence that we haven’t done since 1989. And Ventoux is a unique place in the Tour de France.
Women climb to altitude
The women’s Tour de France will arrive at Châtel in 2025, its director Marion Rousse announced this Tuesday, presenting a route that is gaining muscle with nine stages and the Col de la Madeleine on the program for the first time.
The Women’s Grande Boucle, of which this is the fourth edition in its new version, will leave Vannes on Saturday July 26 and arrive on Sunday August 3 in the village
from Haute-Savoie. The departure from Morbihan had already been announced a few months ago.
The peloton will then cross France from west to east on a steep course whose difficulties will increase.
