Refresh
The GC teams appear to be conscious of the threat of wind. It is indeed blowing out there, but so far the peloton has mostly been riding into a headwind. Things could get very lively with a change of direction.
The gap is plummeting again now, down to 1:40. There’s lots of attentiveness in the peloton, with Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates-ADQ and other GC teams keeping their leaders towards the front.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The accelerations on that climb has helped the break reach their biggest advantage of the day. They’re all back together again now, after gaps appeared between them, and the pace has steadied again.
140KM TO GO
Alpecin lead the peloton over the climb, 2:20 later.
That puts Thomas in the lead, with two more climbs to come, each with one point available at the top. If he’s first over just one of those climbs, he’ll be on the podium tonight in the polka-dot jersey.
Thomas takes the one point at the top, managing to drop the other four.
COTE DE NOTRE-DAME-DE-LORETTE
Thomas attacks 200m from the top.
The battle for the KOM jersey has begun! The riders are on the first climb of the day, and Armirail has upped the pace.
Cycling royalty is here today at the roadside, in Mark Cavendish, for the first time following the race as a spectator as the outright record holder for most stage wins.
TotalEnergies have fulfilled their obligation as a wildcard team by getting a man in this break, Mattéo Vercher. And Arkéa – B&B Hotels have Mathis Le Berre there, despite having a multiple stage winning sprinter Arnaud Démare in their line-up.
The peloton are controlling the break very tightly, keeping it at little more than two minutes.
150KM TO GO
The long line of Alpecin-Deceuninck riders leading the peloton.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
It’s interesting that Intermarché–Wanty have got Jonas Rutsch into the break. Given the team has the star sprinter of last year’s race, Biniam Girmay, you might have assumed Rutsch and the rest of their line-up to focus exclusively on his sprint. But the Eritrean hasn’t shown that form this year, and it seems the team are hedging their bets.
The gap has steadied at 2:10. Alpecin and Lidl are keeping this controlled.
160KM TO GO
Bruno Armirail is a veteran of breakaways, and has been especially lively this year. His multiple escapes has helped see him take the King of the Mountains classification at both the Dauphiné and Tour of the Basque Country – so we can expect him to target the points on offer today, and seal the first polka-dot jersey of the race.
The odds are of course stacked against these five riders, but perhaps less so than it might have been given the calibre of riders that managed to get into it.
Here’s a first glimpse of the five riders up the road.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The gap’s been allowed to grow some more, up to over two minutes.
170KM TO GO
Quinn Simmons is also contributing to the pace-setting in the peloton, visible in the stars and stripes jersey as American national champion. He’s working for Lidl-Trek teammate Jonathan Milan.
Alpecin have all seven of their domestiques in formation at the front of the peloton, including Mathieu van der Poel and Kaden Groves, all working for Philipsen. This feels like a statement of intent from the team, and a visible show of confidence that their sprinter can win the tenth stage of his Tour career, and take a first yellow jersey.
We have the first mechanical of the Tour de France – Cofidis’ Bryan Coquard. This will be the Frenchman’s eighth Tour, and he could be in the mi in the sprint today.
The gap up to 1:30, Alpecin and Lidl have taken over at the front of the peloton. Their respective sprinters Jasper Philipsen and Jonathan Milan are desperate to win today, and seize a potentially once-in-a-career opportunity to wear the yellow jersey.
So we have our break of the day, and it’s a strong one. Benjamin Thomas is a Grand Tour stage winner from the Giro last year, while Bruno Armirail has a notoriously powerful engine.
Now it does seem they have sat up – in fact it seems most of the bunch are already taking a comfort break.
The peloton hasn’t sat up, but they have allowed the gap to grow up to 45 seconds already.
Four of them are French: Armirail, Thomas, Le Berre, Vercher. The other is German: Jonas Rutsch.
Five riders have attacked right from the off.
The familiar sight of Christian Prudhomme’s head and torso popping out of the race car waving the flag gets this year’s Tour de France underway.
And we’re off!
185KM TO GO
We’re just moments away from the flag. Anticipation is reaching fever pitch!
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mathieu van der Poel is just off the back of the peloton, with 3.5km left of the neutralised zone. He wore the yellow jersey for most of the first week in 2021, but will today be tasked with delivering it to his Alpecin teammate Jasper Philipsen.
Here were the riders waiting at the unofficial start.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
There’s still 7km left of the neutralised zone, where it seems every inch of the roadside has been claimed by spectators.
The defining rivalry of modern cycling is of course Tadej Pogačar versus Jonas Vingegaard, of which this year’s Tour de France will be the latest in the seemingly never ending installments. Have a read of Philippa York’s analysis ahead of the race.
They’re on the move! The riders have begun the lengthy neutralised section in Lille, and are swarmed by huge crowds.
A key image from the stage 1 neutralised startline…
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Just five minutes to go before the neutralised rollout begins
Look who’s back…
Meanwhile, elsewhere on Planet Cycling…
An unexpected fan: wild bear surprise spectator of race convoy at Sibiu Tour stage – video
A reminder, too, that the Tour de France is not the only Grand Tour in town this weekend. The Giro d’Italia Women starts Sunday in Bergamo and Cyclingnews will be providing full coverage of the race. Here’s our latest story on it, reviewing the key stages.
Giro d’Italia Women 2025 – The make-or-break stages in the race for the maglia rosa
And the first images of today’s start are already appearing. Here’s one of the Arkéa-B&BHotels team at the signon
2025 Tour de France stage 1: Arkéa-B&BHotels at the sign-on (Image credit: Getty Images)
Barring those cross-winds, today’s opening stage is likely to end in a bunch sprint. Here’s Cyclingnews’ full preview by colleague James Moultrie of the opening stage of the 2025 Tour de France.
The weather in Lille is currently dry warm and a bit overcast, but most importantly for the race, it’s windy, and there are expectations that what’s already a stiff breeze could get stronger as the day progresses. On an exposed course running through the flatlands of northern France, that could mean crosswinds.
The neutralised start for stage 1 is at 1310 CET, then there’s a lengthy section before racing itself begins for real at 1340.
Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews live coverage of stage 1 of the 2025 Tour de France. Yes, it’s finally here!