The 2025 Tour de France is nearly upon us, and history is on the line as Tadej Pogacar bids to become only the sixth rider ever to win four yellow jerseys.
Pogacar dominated last year’s race in a remarkable season which also featured victories at the Giro d’Italia and World Championships, and the 26-year-old has carried that form into a blistering 2025 with a raft of wins in the spring classics to go with stage-race triumphs at the UAE Tour and last month’s Criterium du Dauphine. His main rival, Jonas Vingegaard – who won the yellow jersey in 2022 and 2023 – has won Paris-Nice and the Volta ao Algarve this season but will need his Visma-Lease-a-Bike teammates to help pull off a tactical masterclass if he is to end Pogacar’s reign.
Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel and Giro winner Primoz Roglic round out the big four on the start line, while Jasper Philipsen and Binian Girmay headline the sprinters’ race for the green jersey.
This year’s race is the 112th edition of the Tour. It begins with the Grand Depart in Lille, Normandy before finishing in Paris on 27 July with a twist: a hilly circuit around Montmartre. To get there, riders will take on 21 stages all within France including two time-trials and five summit finishes, with a testing route through the Pyrenees before a brutal finale in the Alps featuring Mont Ventoux and the Col de la Loze, the highest point in the race.
Stage 1: Lille Metropole – Lille Metropole, 185km – Flat
The race begins in Lille with a flat 185km loop which should end in a bunch sprint. The small hills will invite riders out into the breakaway in a bid to scoop some early King of the Mountains points and get their hands on the polka dot jersey, but the teams of fast contenders like Jasper Philipsen’s Alpecin-Deceuninck and Biniam Girmay’s Intermarch-Wanty will work hard to reel in the break and set up and showdown at the finish to claim the famous maillot jaune.
Stage 2: Lauwin-Planque – Bologne-sur-Mer, 212km – Hilly
This hilly route to Bologne-sur-Mer should play into the legs of the punchier riders in the peloton, so stage one’s winner could find themselves quickly stripped of the yellow jersey unless they are well shepherded to the finish. A series of short, sharp climbs pepper the final 10km and the finish line itself waits at the top of an uphill drag.
Stage 3: Valenciennes – Dunkerque, 178km – Flat
This should be a second bunch sprint finish in the first three days, although the climb of Mont Cassel during the latter part of the route and coastal crosswinds could be factors in creating splits in the peloton.
Stage 4: Amiens Metropole – Rouen, 173km – Hilly
This route might offer a first look at who is feeling good among the climbers, with five categorised ascents in all. The final climb, the Rampe Saint-Hilaire, is a steep 800m road at 10.6%, with the summit only 5km from the finish, and the stage winner will require strong legs to keep away from any chasing pack.
Stage 5: Caen – Caen, 33km – Individual Time Trial
A 33km individual time trial around Caen, Normandy. It is pretty flat and fast, with enough distance for some meaningful time gaps. Might the world and Olympic time-trial champion Remco Evenepoel snatch the yellow jersey here?
Stage 6: Bayeux – Vire Normandie, 201km – Hilly
This rugged route to Vire Normandie looks ripe for a breakaway, with plenty of tough climbs including the 700m uphill drag to the finish line.
Stage 7: Saint-Malo – Mur-de-Bretagne Guerledan, 194km – Hilly
A double ascent of the iconic Mur-de-Bretagne will decide the winner of this stage, one on which every rider in the peloton would enjoy writing a piece of Tour history.
Stage 8: Saint-Meen-le-Grand – Laval Espace Mayenne, 174km – Flat
This is one of those so-called ‘flat’ stages that Mark Cavendish would scoff at, given it features a climb in the final 20km and a slight uphill finish which will suit the punchier fast men, like Wout van Aert, when they reach Laval. The out-and-out sprinters may find themselves pushed out of contention.
Stage 9: Chinon – Chateauroux, 170km – Flat
Now this is a stage Cavendish would have enjoyed, and he did, winning three times in Chateauroux – the finish straight has since been dubbed Cavendish Avenue.
Stage 10: Ennezat – Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, 163km – Mountain
The first proper mountain stage of the 2025 Tour de France should be a blockbuster. It falls on Bastille Day (which is why the first rest day, typically on a Monday, has been pushed back to Tuesday), so the French crowd will be in the mood and the riders will be desperate to clinch stage victory. We can expect a breakaway to form here, but it may be that the GC contenders come to the fore and battle for both the yellow jersey and a historic stage win.
Stage 11: Toulouse – Toulouse, 154km – Flat
After the first rest day, the sprinters could return to prominence on a flat route finishing in Toulouse, but Jasper Philipsen and the rest of the power riders might be put off by the finale: a loop around the city with a few short, sharp climbs including the Cote de Pech David (800m at 12.4%) with 9km to go. The final 6km is flat, so will we see the sprinters there for a showdown or will it be a puncheur breaking clear over the hills who steals the stage?
Stage 12: Auch – Hautacam, 181km – Mountain finish
This could be a vital day in the Tour, as the peloton arrives in the French Pyrenees. The summit finish at Hautacam has seen some great winners over the years who have gone on to claim the yellow jersey, such as Vincenzo Nibali in 2014. This was also where Vingegaard turned the screw on Pogacar in 2022, breaking his Slovenian rival to extend his overall lead, and it may again be the stage for a showdown between those two great champions.
Stage 13: Loudenvielle – Peyragudes, 11km – Individual Time Trial
The second individual time trial of this Tour is only short, at 10.9km, but it is almost entirely made up of a gruelling 8km climb (7.8% gradient) which steepens significantly to 13% close to the finish at the Peyragudes altiport. It will be a fascinating battle between the time-trial specialists and climbing maestros, with Evenepoel the outstanding favourite once more.
Stage 14: Pau – Luchon-Superbagneres, 183km – Mountain finish
Perhaps the second-most brutal stage of this Tour (stage 18 is pure pain), featuring four famous Pyrenean climbs one after another over 182.6km of racing – the organisers’ schedule has an estimated five hours and 10 minutes in place, and that’s just for the winner. Even the ‘flat’ opening section is a constant tilt uphill until the serious climbing begins: the Col du Tourmalet, Col d’Aspin, Col de Peyresourde before a summit finish at Luchon-Superbagneres. The route is a tribute to Bernard Hinault, the last French winner, on the 40th anniversary of his fourth yellow jersey in 1985 – although it was a stage Greg LeMond won by nearly five minutes over his rival.
Stage 15: Muret – Carcassonne, 169km – Hilly
After the savage climbing of stage 14, a more gentle day in the hills towards Carcassonne will favour either a brekaway or a puncheur in the group, with three categorised climbs along the way. The final 40km are almost entirely downhill from the crest of the Col de Fontbruno, so highly technical descending skills may be needed to escape clear for a solo win.
Stage 16: Montpellier – Mont Ventoux, 172km – Mountain finish
After the second rest day in Montpellier, a long and largely flat stage ends with one of the most famous climbs in cycling and a finish atop the unmistakable lunar landscape of Mont Ventoux. The climb is measured at 15.7km, averaging 8.8%, and whoever wins will claim victory on one of the iconic Tour de France ascents, a place where great winners including Eddy Merckx and Chris Froome have written history before.
Stage 17: Bollene – Valence, 161km – Flat
A flat-ish ride to Valence gives the remaining sprinters in the peloton one more opportunity before the road kicks up into the clouds once more.
Stage 18: Vif – Courchevel Col de la Loze, 171km – Mountain finish
The peloton arrives at the queen stage of this year’s Tour, an absolute monstrosity over three epic Alpine climbs: the Col du Glandon and Col de la Madeleine before a summit finish at the Col de la Loze, all hors categorie ascents totalling more than 5,500m of elevation. Legs will hurt, lungs will burn and ambitions will break en route to the highest point of the Tour, with the finish line 2,304m above sea level.
Stage 19: Albertville – La Plagne, 130km – Mountain
Another hugely draining stage, albeit a shorter ride at less than 130km, is capped off with another summit finish. This one ends atop La Plagne, back at the Tour after a 23-year absence and the fifth categorised climb of an undulating day.
Stage 20: Nantua – Pontarlier, 185km – Hilly
A hilly day tracks north close to the Swiss border to Pontarlier, and it has something for everyone where the star puncheurs, breakaway artists and even GC contenders might consider themselves in the running for a stage win. It could even be another shot for someone to steal away the yellow jersey.
Stage 21: Mantes-la-Ville – Paris Champs-Elysees, 120km – Flat
While the final stage of the Tour has typically been a truce between the top riders, the addition this year of three circuits around Montmartre may shake up that tradition and lead to some late fireworks. The climb is only short at 1.1km, but the 5.9% gradient over rugged cobbles on narrow, winding streets will likely be a platform for attacks, just as it proved at the Olympic Games last summer. In Paris, the winner will be crowned.
