That’s it, the Tour de France has revealed its route for the 2025 edition. And, like every year, lovers of cycling and postcard settings have flocked to the map revealed this Tuesday by the organizers. Except perhaps in neglected regions like the Atlantic coast and the Grand Est, they were not disappointed. The next month of July will make people happy, with its share of legendary passes, cities celebrating and some curiosities, particularly on certain stages of the first ten days which promise to be unpredictable.
Lille, big start on the Grand-Place
In the North, the party will undoubtedly begin a few days before the peloton’s first pedal strokes, on Saturday July 5, for a 185 km stage arriving and departing from Lille. The day before, the famous Grand-Place and its column of the Goddess will host the presentation of the teams, with a crowd that promises to be enormous. The people of the North, fans of cycling as much as fries and beers, as the president of the department Christian Poirier emphatically recalled on Tuesday, will be there. As if to welcome the first yellow jersey of the 2025 Tour, undoubtedly a sprinter, who will raise his arms on the straight at the foot of the Citadel.
Until Boulogne-sur-Mer, mountains and wind
From the second stage, Sunday July 6, the yellow jersey could change shoulders thanks to the longest stage of this 2025 Tour, 212 km between Lauwin-Planque and Boulogne-sur-Mer. On the menu in particular this challenging course with the hills of Artois and Boulonnais, two severe difficulties upon arrival at the seaside, the slopes of Saint-Étienne-au-Mont and Outreau, where it will be necessary to tame slopes at 15% as much as the coastal wind. Big fight and spectacle in perspective.
Normandy and its pitfalls
Who said this start to the Tour would be flat? After the surprises in the North, the organizers also found some in the Normandy plains, which are hosting the Tour for the first time since 2016. First trap on arrival in Rouen for the 4th stage, where the Saint-Hilaire ramp, a slap in the face at 15% 5 km from the finish will do damage. Ditto two days later, after a time trial in Caen, for a 200 km ride in Normandy Switzerland between Bayeux and Vire, which will conclude with the Vaudry coast and a passage at 10% 700 m from the line. “This stage is my training routes, like Mont Pinçon which is my favorite route when I’m at my parents’ house. There is reason to have ambitions,” smiles Kévin Vauquelin, the Arkéa B&B puncher, winner of the 2nd stage of the 2024 Tour in Bologna.
Mûr-de-Bretagne, almost a classic
The smile of Mathieu Van der Poel, winning a yellow jersey that his grandfather Raymond Poulidor had never worn, remains a highlight of the Tour de France 2021. It was in Mûr-de-Bretagne, on the verge of becoming a classic of the Grande Boucle, with this 5th arrival since 2011. The peloton will finish the 7th stage there, on July 11, after a visit to Yffiniac with Bernard Hinault. A double 2 km ascent of the “Breton Alpe d’Huez” with passages at 15%, one 17 km from the goal and the other at the finish, which will once again delight the attackers and the connoisseur Breton public.
Mont-Dore wakes up climbers
After these skirmishes of the first ten days, the first real fireworks display in the mountains was announced on July 14. This Monday mid-Tour is usually a day of rest. Impossible on a national holiday. The peloton will relax the next day, after this first arrival at the summit. Mont-Dore welcomes the Grande Boucle for the first time, arriving on the slopes of the Puy de Sancy, the highest point of the Massif Central. The climb to the Auvergne resort is not the hardest pass of this Tour (3.3 km at 8%), but it will come at the end of a rugged course with more than 4,400 m of altitude difference.
Settling scores in Peyragudes
In Peyragudes in the Pyrenees, “altiport 007”, as Christian Prudhomme nicknamed it, will be the scene of a mountain time trial where the Tour climbers will explain themselves by pedaling. Departing from Loudenvielle, only 11 km, 8 of which are a steep climb where the percentages will increase. THE station, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2025, saw Romain Bardet establish itself in 2017, Tadej Pogacar in 2022, and a James Bond being filmed there in 1997: “Tomorrow never dies”.
Superbagnères, super-baston
It is perhaps the queen stage of this 2025 Tour. Already because it was desired. 36 years after its last passage, the Grande Boucle returns to Superbagnères, at the end of a Dantesque stage of 183 km and 4950 m of altitude difference, with the Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde on the program, before this arrival in Luchon-Superbagnères. Bernard Hinault lost the Tour there in 1986 against Greg LeMond. The winner of 2025 could build his coronation there.
Le Ventoux, at the top again
It’s a great classic. The peloton passes there often (the last time in 2021, for Van Aert’s victory at Malaucène) but ultimately arrives there relatively rarely (10 times). In 2025, for the 16th stage on July 22, the Tour will arrive at the summit of Mont Ventoux. A legendary ascent that has always left its mark on history. The last time, in 2016, Chris Froome, in yellow, had to walk a few meters… on foot. “That year, because of the wind, we went down to the Reynard chalet, and there were too many people, which notably caused Froome’s fall. But we have a unique link with the Giant of Provence and we had to come back there,” underlines Christian Prudhomme.
Col de la Loze, the hardest for the end
He’s the new kid. But the Tour has taken a liking to it. After a first arrival in 2020 (victory for Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez), and a passage in 2023, the peloton returns to the Col de la Loze. An irregular ascent to the heights of Courchevel, this time via a cycle path used for the first time by the Tour. The summit of the Tour at 2304 m, after 26 km of a final insane climb, at the end of a stage which also inflicted the legendary Glandon and Madeleine passes on the runners. 5,500 km of elevation gain for an 18th stage: the riders will need to keep fuel to finish this Tour…
The Champs Elysées, 50 years later
They are going to stroll along the avenue again, to finish this Tour de France. After a final arrival in Nice in 2024, an Olympic year, the peloton will return to the Champs-Élysées on Sunday July 27 for the 21st and final stage, for the traditional arrival in Paris. The first took place in 1975, the year of Bernard Thévenet’s first victory in the Tour de France. 50 years later, and 40 years after the last French victory on the Tour (Bernard Hinault), we should not dream of seeing a Frenchman in yellow in Paris. But a sprinter will raise his arms on the most beautiful avenue in the world. At sunset, a yellow jersey will celebrate its victory. We almost missed the Tour sur les Champs.
