Fantasy League Tour de France 2025 | If you need advice, great. If not, sorry for the (extra) stress!

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We're starting this list with a bit of Dutch pride, because although everyone is talking about the green opportunities for Mathieu van der Poel, many more Dutch riders are coming to France with ambitions. Marijn van den Berg made his Tour debut a year ago and has that experience as an asset as he heads for a second attempt. And it could just fall into place, as the confidence from EF Education-EasyPost will certainly help.

Much has been said and written about all those difficult finishes in the first two weeks, which are tailor-made for classic riders. However, Van den Berg can also handle hills and is then one of the fastest men in a small group. He has already boasted that his top speed remains unchanged after exertion and proved it with his stage win in La Route d'Occitanie, demonstrating that he is in good shape. Let's bring on the sprints.

A rookie in the Tour de France, and it could well be a celebration for Tobias Foss. We know the now 28-year-old Norwegian from his time at Visma | Lease a Bike, his Tour de l'Avenir victory in 2019 with Uno-X, and his surprise world time trial title in 2022 in Australia. However, those few days that proved Foss to be so good were mixed with days when he disappointed.

His move from Visma to INEOS in 2024 did not necessarily bring Foss any improvement, but with the team's new, attacking racing style, the versatile fast rider is developing into an interesting asset. He already won a stage in the Tour of the Alps last year, and we saw him at the front in Paris-Nice, the Flèche Wallonne, and the Dauphiné this year. Now boasting a Norwegian time trial title, he can attack and score points in difficult finishes, time trials, and maybe even in the high mountains.

He has only competed in two major tours, both of which were the Tour de France. Tobias Halland Johannessen has performed well at Uno-X Mobility, although the 25-year-old Norwegian has to wait a long time each year before he is allowed to take the initiative. In 2023, he already showed himself to be a talented attacker, a role he also took on in week three last year after some setbacks in the first few weeks. But Johannessen is much more than that; he is the winner of the 2021 Tour de l'Avenir...

Just like with Foss, we are waiting for Johannessen to really peak, which is why the Tour is not a very rewarding race for a pro-continental team to show itself. Everyone is at their best, which means you may not look as good as you are. However, all signs look promising, with fifth place in the Dauphiné as the final test case. Johannessen can go for a good classification or win mountain stages; this could well be his big breakthrough.

Back to the sprinters, because in Tour betting pools, it's predominantly a choice between the handful of top stars, and then you want that one name, the one who sprints to one podium place after another. TotalEnergies may well have such a name in its ranks, with 26-year-old Frenchman Emilien Jeannière. He has never done a Grand Tour so that the Tour de France will be a whirlwind for him. But his results have proven that he belongs on this podium.

Jeannière rode at club level until 2022, when he joined his current team. There, he regularly finished in the top five in 7-day stage races, with his first victories coming in 2024 in the Boucles de la Mayenne, the Tour of Istanbul, and somewhere in Japan. This season, he demonstrated his ability to sprint for podium places during more competitive pelotons in Oman, Paris-Nice, and the Dauphiné. He's not someone who will win a stage just like that, but he's definitely someone to keep an eye on.

Looking for a puncher for the first two weeks who isn't called Mathieu van der Poel or Wout van Aert? In addition to Foss, we would also like to mention Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale. Benoît Cosnefroy is out with an injury, but Bastien Tronchon is replacing him. He is only 23 and made his debut in the Giro d'Italia in 2024, so bring on the Tour de France. He certainly has the legs for it.

Tronchon is only in his third season as a professional and has proven himself to be a Cosnefroy type, someone who can get over a hill, may well fall just short in the high mountains, but can finish excellently in small groups. In the Critérium du Dauphiné, he sprinted twice in the top seven among the big names, won Tro-Bro Léon, and sprinted to 18th place on the Mur de Huy in the Flèche Wallonne.

Here we mention another former Tour de l'Avenir winner, one from 2024. We should note that it was a six-day edition rather than an eight-day one, but Joe Blackmore joined a prestigious list of winners last season. He did so after making an early move from the Israel-Premier Tech development team in 2023, when he also finished just outside the top ten in the Tour de l'Avenir. In 2024, he also won the Tour du Rwanda and Tour de Taiwan in the pro ranks.

Victories in the Circuit des Ardennes, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and the Tour de l'Avenir last year proved that he had gone beyond the U23 level, and this year he finished fourth in the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes and fourteenth in the Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race. A 22-year-old with substance, a good time trial, punch, and tactical ingenuity... Someone who is given a free role but can surprise both in the GC and as a stage winner.

Just one more sprinter, then? Okay, let's go. That brings us to Cofidis, which has already showcased young Milan Menten in the Giro d'Italia and is fielding 26-year-old Alexis Renard in the Tour de France. For the sprints? As things stand, Bryan Coquard is the man there, but Cofidis requires UCI points, and so, as in 2024, it will typically allow several men to sprint. And don't be surprised if Renard outperforms Coquard in the bunch sprints.

In June, he finished second in the Copenhagen Sprint (behind Jordi Meeus), as he did in the Brussels Cycling Classic (behind Tim Merlier). He finished seventh in Bruges-De Panne and fifth in Paris-Tours last season. He has never won, but that's not necessarily necessary for your Tour betting pool. Like Jeannière, Renard could easily sprint his way to a whole bunch of top ten finishes, which would make both Cofidis and you very happy.

Another rookie, and not just any rookie! Mauro Schmid is only 25 years old, but has been a well-known name in the peloton for years. He broke through in 2021 with a stage win in a tough gravel stage in the Giro d'Italia, earning him a transfer to Soudal-Quick Step. On behalf of that team, he won the Baloise Belgium Tour in 2022 (the same year he also engaged in some intense battles with Koen Bouwman in the Giro) and the Coppi e Bartali in 2023. He then moved to Jayco-AlUla.

In Australian service, Schmid is discovering himself as a stage racer, with his sights also set on one-day races. Last year, he won the Tour of Slovakia, and at the beginning of this year, he was the best in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. After successfully defending his national title in Switzerland, he will normally have a free role in the Tour, providing punch, breakaway attempts in the mountains, and his time trial is also excellent. An additional advantage: Schmid performs very well in the heat!

The next one is also not to be underestimated. If you have been following 2025, you know that Iván Romeo should be in your team. The 21-year-old Spaniard from Movistar opened his season with a stage win in the Tour of Valencia and repeated that success on the top step of the podium in Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné. Apart from a pair of incredible legs, Romeo stood out in his victories thanks to his tactical insight and racing instinct.

Although he has been riding for Movistar since 2023, he really found himself in 2025. No classic spring, but week-long stage races where he can display his stuff in breakaways and with his excellent time trial skills. Romeo is very good at climbing and in that respect he is a bit like Oier Lazkano (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). Will the Tour de France also become his playground?

XDS Astana will go at full speed on the offensive in the Tour de France, and the route is ideal for this. The Kazakh team accumulated a significant number of UCI points in the Giro d'Italia and boasts some notable names on paper for the Tour as well. Harold Tejada, Sergio Higuita, and Clément Champoussin are well-known names, but Simone Velasco may not be as familiar. Still, at 29, he has been around for a while and was the Italian champion in 2023.

Like Christian Scaroni, Velasco is flying high in 2025. He finished fifth in the Coppi e Bartali and eighth in the Tour of the Basque Country. He finished a surprising fourth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and then put in a long training block to be at his best in the Tour. Although we chose Champoussin as our top ten favorite for the mountain jersey, Velasco could well prove to be the man in form at Astana, and then the points could start rolling in quickly...