The Tour de France 2025 holds onto its origins to offer us the best race in the world

The Tour de France 2025 returns to its usual format both in terms of dates and route after the unprecedented ending of the last edition in Nice, forced by the coincidence with the Paris Olympic Games. The Champs-Élysées are therefore recovered on the 50th anniversary of the first finish of the Grande Boucle on the mythical Parisian avenue. A race that in 2025 will take place between the days of July 5th and 27th.

Tour de France 2025 route presented

We already know the route of the Tour de France 2025 that has been presented today and in which the ASO organization has opted for a fairly classic design that recovers some aspects that we had not enjoyed in grand tours in general and in the Tour in particular for a long time.

The Tour de France 2025 will have its Grand Depart in the city of Lille and its surroundings. However, being next to Roubaix does not mean that a stage with the mythical cobblestones of the Hell of the North has been designed. In fact, the first 4 stages are mainly flat and, except for the second one, with a more challenging route, no surprises are expected among the reference cyclists.

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The favorites will measure their strength for the first time in the 5th stage, in which the only flat time trial of this edition will be held with a 33-kilometer route that should start to clarify the general classification. The end of the first week will be marked by an interesting stage with climbs in the Normandy region, followed the next day by a stage with a finish at the Wall of Brittany with a double pass through this ascent, practically identical to the 2021 edition in which Mathieu van der Poel took the lead.

And the first week is not over yet, as there will still be another challenging stage with no less than 8 ascents through the Massif Central, where the cyclists will face the first mountain finish with the arrival at Puy de Sancy.

A change of scenery in the second week, which will be marked by the prominence of the Pyrenees, whose first stage will lead the cyclists to the mythical Hautacam, after passing through the Col de Soulor and the Col de Borderes. And after this stage comes one of the novelties of this edition. We said that the fifth stage was the only flat time trial, but not the only time trial, as in the 13th stage the cyclists will face an atypical uphill time trial that will link the beautiful town of Loudenvielle with the Peyragudes station, with the finish line located on the inhuman ramp of its high-altitude port.

And the Pyrenees do not end there, as there will still be a third stage through this mountain range that recovers one of the mythical ports of the 1980s in a route that exudes classicism. Starting from Pau, the Tourmalet will be ascended followed by the Aspin, the Peyresourde, and finishing in Superbagneres. A beautiful, iconic, pedalable, long climb that can provide a lot of excitement in what will undoubtedly be one of the queen stages of this Tour.

After a brief respite on the way to Carcassonne, the second week of the Tour de France 2024 will end with the return of another mythical climb, which we have not seen in the Tour de France menu since that occasion when Chris Froome had to run without his road bike uphill. Indeed, we are talking about Mont Ventoux, which the race will face in a single-climb stage, although we know that the toughness of the giant of Provence is enough for us to enjoy a great spectacle.

Obviously, after having traveled through the north, the Massif Central, and the Pyrenees, the climax of the race can only be in the Alps. The beginning of the week with a flat stage that will give way to another of the queen stages of the Tour de France 2024, the one that will link the town of Vif with the finish at the Col de la Loze, after passing through the tough Glandon and the Madeleine. A day of tremendous toughness and an opportunity for Tadej Pogacar to take revenge for the 2023 edition when he lost his slim chances of winning the Tour that year on the slopes of the Col de la Loze.

If the toughness of this stage was not enough, the next day the stage will go from Albertville to another mythical summit of the Tour de France, La Plagne, in another route usual in these parts with the Col de Saissies, Col du Pre, Cormet de Roselend, and the finish in La Plagne. This 19th stage will be the last mountainous one, as the next day the cyclists will face a practically flat stage before heading on the final day to Paris to finish on the Champs-Élysées when it marks 50 years since the first time the Tour de France finished in this place in that legendary 1975 edition when Eddy Merckx was dethroned by Bernard Thevenet.

A Tour de France with a classic feel, with the toughness concentrated this time in the Pyrenees and where once again the time trial plays a secondary role, although the innovation of including a uphill time trial that gives prominence to this discipline is appreciated. A first week that should not make differences beyond what the flat time trial and the tension of the first flat stages dictate. Meanwhile, the Alps, despite having less prominence, will offer us two consecutive stages of epic profile to resolve what remains pending after passing through the Pyrenees.