The route of Tour de France 2025 was presented at a stunning event in Palais des Congres in Paris on October 29, 2024. The popular annual event was hosted by Tour de France race organizer A.S.O. and attended by several popular professional cyclists, including Mark Cavendish, Jasper Philipsen, and 2024 TDF points classification winner Biniam Girmay.

Before the much-anticipated route of Tour de France 2025 was revealed, Jean-Etienne Amaury, President of Amaury Sport Organisation, used the opportunity to highlight memorable moments from this year’s Tour, including Tadej Pogacar’s overall race win and six stage victories, Mark Cavendish’s thirty-fifth Tour de France stage victory, Romain Bardet’s stage 1 victory in his final Tour, and Biniam Girmay’s points classification win.

Tour de France General Manager Christian Prudhomme subsequently took to the stage in Palais des Congres to present the route and stage profiles of Tour de France 2025.

Following a one-year forced Paris hiatus in 2024, where Paris played host to the Olympic Games, Tour de France will honor tradition by returning to Paris for the conclusion of the 2025 edition of the legendary race. It will be the fiftieth anniversary of the Tour race finish on the Champs-Elysees.

Tour de France 2025 will be 3320 kilometers long and feature 21 stages. The 2025 Tour will start in Lille on July 5 and will be contested solely on French soil. The 2025 edition of the mythical Grand Tour is created to honor the historic feats of great French cyclists, including Jean Robic, Raymond Poulidor, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Louison Bobet, Laurent Fignon, and Bernard Thevenet.

Stage 1 will be a 185-kilometer roundtrip in and around Lille in northern France, near the Belgian border. The stage will feature three minor categorized climbs mid-stage and may conclude with a mass sprint or see a breakaway rider succeed. Sprint aces, such as Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) will view the stage as a grand opportunity to take the yellow jersey. 

Stage 2 will take place on July 6. The stage will take the riders from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer on a 212-kilometer route in varied terrain, concluding near the windy coastline. The stage is designed to appeal to the puncheurs in the Tour peloton.

Stage 3 will be a 178-kilometer ride from Valenciennes to Dunkerque on the French west coast. Wind may play an important role in the generally flat stage, which will only feature a 2.3-kilometer 4.5% climb approximately thirty kilometers before the finish line. The climb may be used to launch attacks from the peloton.

The stages in northwestern France are expected to feature cobbled sections and strong coastal winds may split the peloton into echelons, which may hamper the chances of success of some race favorites if not positioned and protected well by teammates.

The 2025 Tour de France will continue with stage 4 in Normandy on July 8 – a 173-kilometer ride from Amiens to Rouen – hometown of Jacques Anquetil, who won the Tour de France five times (1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964).

Stage 5 will be a 33-kilometer individual time trial in Caen. The route will be flat. Beyond the obvious time trial experts, Tour General Classification favorites such as Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, and Primoz Roglic must use the opportunity to gain time on their competitors.

Stage 6 will take the riders in the Tour de France peloton from Bayeux to Vire Normandie. The route will be 201 kilometers long and will be competed in hilly terrain which appeals to the puncheurs in the peloton. The stage will be contested in Norman Switzerland and expose the riders to a cumulative altitude gain of 3,500 meters. 

The 2025 Tour will offer no rest for the wicked. Come July 11, stage 7 will invite the riders to an exciting battle on the Mur-de-Bretagne. The stage will begin in Saint-Malo and will be 194-kilometers long. After passing through the Breton town of Yffiniac in honor of Bernard Hinault’s final stage victory, the Cote de Mur-de-Bretagne will have to be climbed twice.

Stage 8 – to be contested on July 12 – will be a 174-kilometer ride from Saint-Meen-le-Grand to Laval. The stage profile is flat and is expected to appeal to the sprinters in the peloton. The stage will honor local hero Louison Bobet and his third consecutive victory seventy years ago.

A 170-kilometer route from Chinon to Chateauroux will play host to stage 9 of the 2025 Tour. Mark Cavendish has won a Tour stage here and a sprinter may well take the victory again this time around.

Stage 10 will take place in the Massif Central region on a route from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy. The stage will be 163 kilometers long, feature no less than seven Category Two climbs, and great celebrations are expected on and along the route on the French National Day (Bastille Day). 

Rest Day 1 will take place on July 15. While the riders will use every minute to recover their tired bodies, spectators will have the chance to recover from their hangovers following an amazing and memorable Bastille Day.

The 2025 Tour de France will recommence on July 16 with a 154-kilometer stage 11 roundtrip to and from Toulouse.

Tour de France enters Pyrenean Mountain territory on stage 12. The 181-kilometer stage begins in Auch and concludes on the legendary Hautacam climb. Expect the pure climbers to shine while battling against the General Classification favorites for a stage victory that will enter the history books.

An additional mountain challenge is on the race menu in the thirteenth stage of Le Tour 2025. The eleven-kilometer individual mountain time trial will be contested from Loudenvielle to Peyragudes. The stage will call for an all-out effort from the very beginning once the riders leave the start ramp in a stage, which will possibly have a decisive effect on the general classification.

Stage 14 will take the riders from Pau to Luchon-Superbagneres. The 183-kilometer mountain battle in legendary terrain is expected to have a significant influence on the general classification of the 2025 Tour. French Tour legend Bernard Hinault has previously struggled against Greg LeMond in this terrain. Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz will possibly dominate the terrain in 2025.

Stage 15 is set to follow the Pyrenean trilogy and is designed by Amaury Sport Organisation’s renowned route makers as a 169-kilometer ride from Muret to Carcassonne, located southeast of Toulouse in the Occitania region. Carcassonne was demilitarized under Napoleon Bonaparte, and we are likely to witness a ceasefire between the general classification favorites during their crusade to Carcassonne in stage 15 of Tour de France 2025. The stage will be contested in hilly terrain and may appeal to breakaway optimists.

Following stage 15, staff and riders fortunate to remain part of the Tour de France caravan will enjoy a well-deserved rest during Rest Day 2 of next year’s Tour on July 21. While staff members will surely have several important tasks to handle while playing catch-up following many stressful workdays, the professional cyclists will also have to engage in some sort of physical activity to prevent their completely optimized, but exhausted, organisms from shutting down. A short recovery ride will likely be on the menu – possibly followed by some relaxing hours by the pool and time with girlfriends, wives – or enduring journalists.

Having recovered and reloaded their two-legged barrels during Rest Day 2, riders will gather in Provence on July 22 for stage 16 - an unforgettable mountain battle on a 172-kilometer route from Montpellier to the summit of Mont Ventoux, where Tommy Simpson pushed himself beyond his limits and passed away shortly after falling off his bike. 

Moving towards the Alps, stage 17 will take the riders from Bollene to Valence. 161 kilometers are on the menu. The flat terrain will appeal to fast sprinter aces who have survived after struggling in the mountains. Jonathan Milan, Jasper Philipsen, Biniam Girmay, and Mads Pedersen may favor their chances of success if they take part in the 2025 Tour.

Stage 18 will be a 171-kilometer mountainous ride from Vif to Col de la Loze. The route will include the Courchevel. Expect great fireworks on the roads. Miguel Angel Lopez finished ahead of Primoz Roglic and Tadej Pogacar on Col de la Loze in stage 17 of the 2020 Tour.

Albertville will play host to the start of stage 19, a 130-kilometer climbing stage to La Plagne. Laurent Fignon has won twice in La Plagne stages (1984 and 1987). Alain Delon visited the Tour de France on a previous occasion and tribute was paid to Delon during the presentation of next year’s Tour route.

Stage 20 will be the penultimate stage of Tour de France 2025. The riders will have to fight their way through 185 additional kilometers in the saddle on a route from Nantua to Pontarlier in the Jura mountains. This will be the final opportunity for general classification riders to shake up the standings after three strenuous weeks on the roads of France.

Tour de France 2025 will conclude with stage 21, which will be a 120-kilometer parade ride from Mantes-la-Ville to Champs-Elysees in Paris. The stage will honor the winner of the 2025 Tour de France and the winners of the other classifications and is expected to culminate in a mass sprint finish on the legendary Champs-Elysees Avenue in downtown Paris.

The wild card invitations for the 2025 Tour de France were fiercely contested at the time of the Tour de France route presentation in Paris. Both Tudor Pro Cycling Team and Uno-X Mobility were competing against small French teams for wild card invitations.

Uno-X Mobility had multiple riders participating in the 2025 Tour de France presentation in Paris, including Tour de France stage winner Magnus Cort of Denmark. The Uno-X Mobility team animated the 2024 Tour by continuously participating in breakaways throughout the race and Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen led the Best Climber classification in the first part of the Tour.

The women’s Tour de France – the Tour de France Femmes 2025 will be 1165 kilometers long and will feature nine stages. The 2025 race will be contested solely on French soil. The 2025 edition of the women’s Tour de France will begin on the West coast in the Breton town of Vannes on Saturday, July 26. The race will conclude in Chatel on August 3.

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