On Saturday, July 5, Le Grand Départ of the 2025 Tour de France takes place in Lille. The first three stages also occur in northern France before the yellow caravan moves south via Brittany. The punchy Mûr de Bretagne will be included in the first week, while mountaintop finishes at the Mont Ventoux and in Peyragudes, Hautacam, and La Plagne are expected to fire up the race in the second and third weeks.

Alexander Kristoff will likely have a successor as the last sprinter to power to the first yellow jersey. The Norwegian won in Nice in 2020, and the first stage of the 2025 Tour de France offers a golden opportunity for the fast men. The opening stage includes less than 1,000 meters of climbing, with the last hill, Mont Noir, situated around 45 kilometers from the finish in Lille.

The second stage looks enticing for the punchy riders in the peloton. The route is mostly rolling, but there are two sharp climbs inside the last 10 kilometers: the first is 900 meters at 10.8%, and the second is 800 meters at 7.9%. The final kilometer has a gradient of nearly 5%.

With just 648 meters of elevation, stage 3 is the flattest of the first three. The only obstacle is hardly worth mentioning: 2.3 kilometers at 4.5%, far from the finish line.

Stage 4 is an undulating race with a finale for punchers, as the last 30 kilometers are crammed with short climbs. Stage 5 will be a flat time trial starting and finishing in Caen, and stage 6 will be a hilly race attrition right through the heart of Normandie before stage 7 sets off from Saint-Malo and finishes at the Mûr de Bretagne. This marks a return of the punchy finish climb after Mathieu van der Poel’s brave raid for yellow in 2021.

Stage 8 travels from Saint-Méen-le-Grand to Laval, after which stage 9 runs from Chinon to Châteauroux – both are perfect for sprinters. The ‘first week’ concludes on Monday, July 14, the French national holiday, with a race from Montluçon to Le Mont-Dore in the Auvergne, home to glorious volcano landscapes. Stage 10 takes in an elevation gain of over 4,300 meters.

Week 2

The riders can return to racing after the first rest day, as stage 11 will likely see a sprint finish in Toulouse. The peloton then tackles the Pyrenees for three days in a row. The action in the high mountains opens with stage 12, a race with an easygoing opening but a finale featuring the Col du Soulor, Col des Bordères, and an uphill finish in ski resort Hautacam. The 13th stage will be an ITT for climbers to Altiport 007 in Peyragudes, a brutal test of 8 kilometers at 7.8%, with the final kilometer ramping up at 13%.

Stage 14 continues in the same vein, including an elevation gain of nearly 5,000 meters and a mountaintop finish in Superbagnères, in the mountains above Bagnères-de-Luchon. The 15th stage then takes a lumpy route to the fortified city of Carcassonne, which was the venue of sprint finishes on the last two occasions (Jasper Philipsen, 2022; Mark Cavendish, 2021).

Week 3

Following the second rest day, the Tour heads for the Vaucluse – more precisely, a mountaintop finish at the most renowned peak of the department, the Mont Ventoux. This way, stage 16 serves as a foretaste of the Alps, which will be on the menu after stage 17, a race to Valence. Stage 18 will include the Col du Glandon and the Col de Madeleine before finishing at the Col de la Loze, where Tadej Pogacar cracked in 2023. I’m gone; I’m dead.

Stage 19 serves up four intermediate climbs before a mountaintop finish in La Plagne. Since the last two stages are relatively straightforward, the 2025 Tour de France winner is expected to be known for the 17.1-kilometer ascent with an average gradient of 7.6%.

Stage 20 travels on rolling roads from Nantua to Pontarlier, with the Tour wrapping up in stage 21 on Sunday, July 27, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Cycling