Tour de France 2025: favorites, dates and how to watch

The most important cycling event of the year is approaching, the race that transcends the world of cycling itself and makes the Tour de France one of the most important sporting events in the world. A Tour de France 2025 that presents itself with three top favorites, the same ones who occupied the podium in the last edition, and with the uncertainty of whether Jonas Vingegaard or Remco Evenepoel will be able to dethrone a seemingly invincible Tadej Pogacar, despite suffering defeats in San Remo, Roubaix, and Amstel Gold Race in the classics of this last spring.

Will anyone be able to overshadow Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel? Favorites for the Tour de France 2025

Obviously, based on the performance in recent times in both major and minor races, the decision on who are the top contenders for the final victory in the Tour de France 2025 seems to clearly be between these three.

At the forefront could not be anyone other than Tadej Pogacar, if only because he is the current winner of the race and the undisputed number 1 cyclist. However, the Slovenian cyclist's handicap to win a new Tour de France could once again be his excessive ambition to win everything he races, which has led him to face an intense spring of classics, from which he has brought an interesting loot. In any case, the precedent of his Giro-Tour double from last year means we should trust him despite the wear and tear he may have undergone during the spring.

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The Slovenian will also have a team of true luxury to support him, with a preselection that includes names like Almeida, Soler, Novak, Adam Yates, Narváez, or Sivakov, undoubtedly a team of full guarantees that will try to prevent Tadej Pogacar from having to resort to his usual exhibitions to secure the race.

The second in question must be a man who knows what it is to win the Tour de France, like Jonas Vingegaard. He started by winning, but after the fall suffered in Paris-Nice, he decided to stay away from the spotlight and focus solely on winning the Tour de France. He is the only cyclist who knows what it is to beat Tadej Pogacar in the Tour de France, something he achieved thanks to the fantastic work of his teammates from the then Jumbo-Visma.

For this Tour de France 2025, Visma-Lease a Bike once again has a luxury lineup, starting with a recovered Wout van Aert who can be decisive again when least expected, but also with the fresh winner of the Giro d'Italia, Simon Yates; with an all-rounder Matteo Jorgenson who, along with Sepp Kuss, must be the Danish rider's mountain helpers, and with a solid guard for the flat stages in the figures of Affini, Benoot, Campenaerts, and Wout van Aert himself.

On the other hand, Remco Evenepoel made a timid approach to competition in the Ardennes classics with an Amstel Gold Race in which he became the only cyclist in recent years to be able to counter an attack by Tadej Pogacar. Then in Romandie, he limited himself to going with the flow and proving himself with solvency in the time trial. His question mark remains whether he has reached the necessary level in high mountains to be able to fight head-to-head with Pogacar and Vingegaard instead of just surviving on their wheel and relying on the advantage he gains in the time trial. He will also have to deal with a team inferior to his competitors and that, in addition, starts with the sensitive absence of his lieutenant Mikel Landa.

Beyond these names, it remains to be seen if Primoz Roglic will finally take part in the race and if he has fully recovered from his falls in the Giro d'Italia. Although currently his level is slightly below that of Pogacar, Vingegaard, and Evenepoel, the Slovenian is one of the current cyclists with the most victories in both minor and major races, and when he doesn't fall, he becomes a formidable rival.

Another one who also raises serious doubts about his performance is the missing Carlos Rodríguez, who will defend the honor of INEOS Grenadiers in the Tour de France. However, after the collarbone fracture he suffered in the UAE Tour, he reappeared in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Tour de Romandie, achieving a discreet 6th place in the latter.

Route of the Tour de France 2025

The Tour de France 2025 will start in the north of this country, specifically in Lille, a city bordering Belgium. Several flat stages, with a more or less hilly route, will mark the beginning of the Tour with all that entails in terms of nervousness, high speed, and falls.

Fortunately, in stage 5, the first of the two time trials included in this 2025 edition of the Tour de France arrives, a flat stage with 33 kilometers of route, long by current standards, which means a unique opportunity for specialists to open up gaps in the general classification before the much-awaited mountain stages.

The cyclists will face a week marked by the toughness of the terrain in Brittany, with a seventh stage that will include the first mountain finish of the race with the ascent of the Muro de Bretaña. Two new flat stages will precede a first stage of real mountain climbing in the always dangerous terrain of the Massif Central in a stage with no less than 8 ascents, including the finish in Mont Dore. An unusually long first week since the first rest day will be on a Tuesday and not on Monday as usual.

The second week starts at the foot of the Pyrenees with a flat stage around Toulouse to, the next day, seek the finish at the tough Hautacam, preceded by the beautiful combination of Soulor and Col de Borderes. Not a super stage, but enough to start laying the cards on the table, especially considering the great toughness that Hautacam alone presents.

For the next day, the Tour de France has planned an atypical climb time trial to Peyragudes, an individual battle that should definitively define the positions in the general classification and definitively rule out many for the fight for the yellow jersey.

The passage through the Pyrenees will close with a real big stage that brings back memories of the eighties thanks to the recovery of a climb as beautiful and tough as Superbagneres. An ascent that will also be preceded by a classic route that links Tourmalet, Aspin, and Peyresourde, a route that can be recited by heart as football fans do with the great lineups in history. The second week will end, this time on a Sunday, with a hilly stage that seems specially designed for a breakaway to succeed.

The highlight to start the third week will be the arrival of the mythical Mont Ventoux, although this time in a tremendously watered-down way with a single-port stage design. Hopefully, we won't see a repeat of those images of Froome running after abandoning his bike, as the profile of the stage invites all spectators to focus on the iconic mountain where the Mistral mercilessly blows.

A last flat stage before the peloton enters the Alps, first with a stage of 5400 meters of positive elevation with Glandon, Madeleine, and a finish in Courchevel, ascending to the Col de la Loze which adds an extra level of toughness to this route, which is otherwise classic in the history of the Tour de France.

The next day, another equally classic combination through the Cols de Saisies, Prè, or Cormet de Roselend to finish with the long and tough climb to La Plagne. And this is the end of the high mountain stages of the Tour de France after which the general classification should be definitively defined. The cyclists will still have a stage 20 with a hilly profile that seems to point more towards a breakaway victory and a stage 21 that gains unusual interest after the inclusion of the Montmartre route that took place in the Paris Olympics and which, surely, even if not for the general classification, will provide a great spectacle.

How to Watch the Tour de France 2025

Eurosport and Max on one side, and RTVE, through Teledeporte and its RTVE Play platform, will provide full coverage of the Tour de France 2025.

However, as has been happening in recent years, only the Eurosport, Max duo has the rights to broadcast the full stages even before the start. The RTVE connection is usually carried out to offer approximately the last 100 kilometers of each stage.