Project how to beat Tadej Pogacar: what is already known about the 2025 Tour de France route?

Before the rumors run at full speed, let's look at what we already know. Indeed, the organization already announced that the Grand Départ will be in Lille on Saturday, July 5, 2025. On that day, a sprint would be expected in the streets of Lille after a local lap. The start of second stage will then be in the small village of Lauwin-Planque, after which the peloton will finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer after a tricky ride. On Monday, July 7, the riders will travel from Valenciennes to Dunkerque again on a stage where the wind might play a role. Until the start of stage four in Amiens, we all know for sure; after that, it's a matter of hearsay.

According to Todaycycling and others, in that fourth stage, the peloton will be heading to the finish in Rouen, the capital of Normandy. That region is where the Tour de France last arrived in 2016, with the Grand Départ at the magnificent Mont-Saint-Michel. The fifth stage is expected to be a time trial in Caen, after which the entire Tour circus will move on toward Brittany. According to Actu, the sixth stage would kick off the fireworks in Brittany, with a "ride for punchers" between Bayeux and Vire. The following day, Friday, July 11, would include the Mur-de-Bretagne. Mathieu van der Poel brilliantly took the yellow jersey in 2021 on that mythical climb.

The first weekend would feature a flat stage on Saturday and Sunday as the peloton heads south to the Pyrenees. Rumors say we will see a sprint on Saturday in Laval and Sunday in Chateauroux, after which Monday will be reserved for the French national holiday. Therefore, there will be no rest day on the Quatorze Juillet, but the first challenging stage. According to FranceBleu, the riders will get on their bikes in Ennezat to finish on Mont-Dore after climbing about 4,000 meters high. La Flamme Rouge mapped out the most likely route in the tweet below.

After the rest day, which will be on Tuesday, July 15, three challenging mountain stages will be on the cards in the Pyrenees. The route in the mountains seems a bit vague. Indeed, according to rumors, one stage would finish in Toulouse, but there would also be stages finishing on the climbs of Superbagneres, Peyragudes, and Hautacam. The latter was the mountain where Jonas Vingegaard managed to get rid of Tadej Pogacar in the 18th stage of the 2022 Tour de France and put the overall victory more firmly in his hands. A day earlier, the Slovenian defeated the Dane in a sprint à deux on the climb to Peyragudes. A common rumor about that climb is that it would be the scene of a climbing time trial. There are still many question marks about that, though. There is still much uncertainty about stages eleven, twelve, and thirteen.

Carcassonne would act as finish and start in the second weekend. We have now reached stages fourteen and fifteen. In two predominantly flat stages, a sprint would first be expected in the streets of the French city on Saturday afternoon. A day later, the peloton would head from Carcassonne toward Montpellier for another bunch sprint. That city for the finish would host the second and final rest day on Monday, July 21.

From Montpellier, the final week would begin immediately on Tuesday, July 22, with a stage to the mythical Mont Ventoux. The iconic climb was last included in the Tour route in 2021 when Wout van Aert pulled off a superb solo victory. The big favorites for the overall victory would then get a final day's rest during stage seventeen, as a flat stage between Bollène and Valence appears to be on the schedule. From stage eighteen, the battle for the overall Tour victory would erupt in the Alps.

Indeed, two enormously tough Alpine stages would follow on Thursday, July 24, and Friday, July 25. The first of the two-part series would start in Vif and, after the challenging climbs of the Col du Glandon and the Col de la Madeleine, would finish on the Col de la Loze. The course would have the same finale as in the seventeenth Tour stage of 2023, where Vingegaard successfully defeated his great rival Pogacar. Stage eighteen would, therefore, be the queen stage of this Tour de France.

The nineteenth stage, in turn, would finish in La Plagne. The climb to the ski resort was last included in the Tour de France route in 2002 when Michael Boogerd recorded the single most significant victory of his career. The start would be in Albertville that Friday, leaving other tricky climbs on the cards before the final climb.

The latest rumor involves an uphill stage as the 20th stage. Where exactly that starts is unclear, but the finish would be on Saturday afternoon, July 26, in Pontarlier. From there, the entire Tour circus will move towards the French capital. In stage 21, there will definitely be a sprint on the Champs-Elysées.

All in all, this is a very demanding route, especially in the second and third weeks. The first ten stages will not feature any mountains, although, with stages two, seven, and ten, there are three difficult uphill stages anyway. More will become clear about the stages in the Pyrenees when the route is presented, but the grueling Alpine climbs in the final week seem sure. Will we get a rematch between Pogacar and Vingegaard on the Col de la Loze? Answer on Tuesday, October 29!