The 2025 Tour de France will be mountainous, entirely French and full of nods to its stars

The ramps of Hautacam, Superbagnères or La Plagne return in a route with fewer sprints and two counterclockwise; a plain and a timed climb

The 2025 Tour de France will be “entirely French” and will not have an inch outside of French territory, in a route presented this Tuesday in Paris in which a very mountainous profile stands out, with one of the two time trials being a climb to Peyragudes, and the return of Hautacam or Superbagnères, while there will be fewer options for sprinters in an edition that will have many memories for the great stars of French cycling and heroes of yesteryear of a Tour de France designed to remain in memory.

The return of the Superbagnères summit to the Tour de France is confirmed, in one of the key stages of the 2025 French round in the Pyrenees in which a previous trilogy that has not been seen since 2012 will also be climbed; the Col du Tourmalet, the Col d’Aspin and the Peyresourde. But it seems difficult to say which stage will be the queen, since another ends at Mont Ventoux and another at the Col de la Loze after passing through Glandon and Madeleine.

After three ‘Grand Départ’ from abroad – Copenhagen, Bilbao and Florence – the grand start returns to France, to Lille, so that the Tour no longer leaves its original borders. Something that will help you visit almost every corner of the French ‘hexagon’ and pass through many of its great massifs; the Massif Central, the Pyrenees, the Alps and the Jura, with the roof on that colossus of the Col de la Loze crowned at 2,304 meters high, also rising for the first time from the Courchevel side.

In its 21 stages, with two days of rest in between in Toulouse and Montpellier, this Tour de France 2025 will have an accumulated positive gradient of 51,550 meters, undoubtedly caused by an even firmer commitment to the medium and high mountain stages . In total, there will be 3,320 kilometers divided into 7 flat stages, 6 medium mountain, 6 high mountain with 5 high finishes –Hautacam, Luchon-Superbagnères, Mont Ventoux, Col de la Loze and La Plagne — and 2 time trials.

The 2025 Tour de France will begin in Lille, in a stage with the start and finish in the northern French city designed for sprinters, so for the first time in years the first wearer of the yellow jersey of the Tour de France could be a sprinter . It is the only thing that was already known, because the ‘Grand Départ’ and the first three stages through the north of the country had already been revealed previously, with a notable final arrival in the third stage to Dunkirk, which was the official departure in 2001.

After leaving Lille Métropole and the Nord behind, the fourth stage will have a leg-breaking finish in Rouen, with a previous pass through the Cote Jacques Anquetil to pay tribute to the five-time Tour winner, who died in Rouen. And this Tour de France is filled with tributes and symbolism, to give even more French flavor before the Grand Départ travels to Barcelona in 2026. And you will pass through the Yffiniac crossing, birthplace of Bernard Hinault, and Saint-Méen-le-Grand, where Louison Bobet (the first cyclist to win three Tours) was born, will host the start of the eighth stage.

The first individual time trial, flat and 33 kilometres, will arrive very soon in the fifth stage, before a sixth day with a rugged profile with 6 small climbs including the final in Vire Normandie, after 201 kilometres. In the seventh stage, an iconic start in Saint-Malo and an always interesting arrival in Mur-de-Bretagne, the fifth arrival in the last 15 years and with more than 2,450 meters of elevation gain. Mathieu van der Poel won on the wall of Brittany in his debut in the Tour de France.

The tenth stage will be the French national holiday, on July 14, ending in Le Mont-Dore (Puy de Sancy) and up to 7 mountain passes, with 4,400 meters of accumulated altitude in the Massif Central, to liven up the party before the first day of rest in Toulouse. Deserved and necessary, because the cycling exhibition will begin as soon as it gets rolling again.

Firstly, because in stage 12 the famous Hautacam ramps return, in a flat stage at the beginning but which will then link three ports. And the next day comes the time trial, 11 kilometers in total between Loudenvielle and Peyragudes. It will be the prelude to one of the key stages, starting in Pau and arriving in Superbagnères after 35 years of absence. And before being able to rest again, a flat stage between Muret and the always colorful medieval city of Carcassonne.

Montpellier will be the starting point of a single-port stage ending in Mont Ventoux (1910 meters), but the Tour de France will allow the fight for the green jersey to continue in Valence before the ‘roosters’ move the roost again. First, in stage 18, on a day between Vif and Courchevel with 3 Special Category climbs (Glandon, Madeleine and Col de la Loze), with 5,500 meters accumulated in total.

The next day, Albertville will be the stage of a day ending in La Plagne, in the last explosive mountain stage and which will have 5 climbs in just 130 kilometers and with 4,600 positive meters. The penultimate stage will be bumpy, the scene of a possible escape, and the 21st and final stage returns to Paris, to the Champs-Élysées to celebrate 50 years since the first arrival in this historic finale, interrupted last year by the celebration of the Games Paris 2024 Olympics.

A HIGH AND LONGER WOMEN’S TOUR OF FRANCE

As for the Women’s Tour de France with Zwift, it will be a high-profile edition in which they intend to continue growing. Starting in French Brittany, the route will try to match the excitement of the last edition, with only 10 seconds of difference between the winner, the Polish Katarzyna Niewiadoma and the third classified, the Dutch Pauliena Rooijakkers, with her compatriot Demi Vollering second to 4″, repeat.

The director of the Women’s Tour de France, Marion Rousse, assured that Brittany is a land “attached to cycling.” The 2025 edition of the women’s gala round will have 9 stages, one more than last year. Its great attraction will be, in addition to having the first three stages in Brittany, the climbs to the Col de la Madeleine, in the penultimate stage, and in the last stage the final ascent to Les Portes du Soleil, in the Alps, after climbing the dreaded Joux-Plane. A Women’s Tour that will cross France from the northwest to the southeast.

There will be a total of 1,165 kilometers spread over that record of 9 stages, with a total of 17,240 meters of accumulated positive slope. The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift 2025 will have 2 flat stages, 3 hilly stages, 2 medium mountain stages and 2 high mountain stages, starting in Vannes and finishing in Chatel. A mountainous and demanding, long and exciting Tour, to find out if Niewiadoma will be able to retain her victory or if she will change the winner.

The president of ASO (Amaury Sport Organization), Jean-Etienne Amaury, assured that the Tour de France has grown to become a “movement that lasts a whole summer”, and highlighted the 700 million views on the official accounts of the Tour de France 2024, before giving way to a review of the best moments of the Tour de France and the Women’s Tour de France with Zwift 2024.

The voice of the Tour de France, Marc Chavet, was the master of ceremonies of a gala somewhat diluted by the absence of the current champion of the men’s Tour de France, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, and the great candidate to regain the scepter, the Danish Jonas Vingegaard. But great sprinters did attend, such as the last green jersey of the regularity, the Belgian Jasper Philipsen, or the winner of three stages in the last edition Biniam Girmay. But the great ovation went to the ‘record holder’ of victories in the French round; the British Mark Cavendish.