Tour de France 2025 route map<\/a>Stage five, Wednesday 9 July: Caen to Caen individual time trial, 33km<\/p>\nThe first decisive day in the battle for the overall, a relatively long time trial on the rolling bocage north-east of Caen, largely on wide main roads that will suit the most powerful riders in the field. The favourites need to at least limit any losses; the winner should be a pure rouleur \u2013 the Italian Filippo Ganna, perhaps. If he\u2019s on form, Ineos should be targeting this stage and a possible spell in yellow.<\/p>\n
Stage six, Thursday 10 July: Bayeux to Vire, 201km<\/p>\n
The Suisse Normande isn\u2019t widely known among cyclists now, but back in the day local amateurs spoke in awe of races over this area\u2019s leg-breaking climbs. The fun starts in the final 70km, with three third-category climbs, before a final little brute, the C\u00f4te de Vaudry, 4km from the finish. French fans will be hoping Julian Alaphilippe can throw back the years as this would have been made for him in his pomp.<\/p>\n
Stage seven, Friday 11 July: Saint-Malo to M\u00fbr-de-Bretagne 194km<\/p>\n
Day one in Brittany is more straightforward, passing Bernard Hinault\u2019s village of Yffiniac \u2013 40 years since the Badger became the last French Tour winner \u2013 before two ascents of M\u00fbr de Bretagne to conclude. The finish up the \u201cWall\u201d is harder than anything the race has tackled to date, and you\u2019d expect Pogacar to make an early statement of intent, but it will also suit Van der Poel, winner here in 2021.<\/p>\n
Stage eight, Saturday 12 July: Saint-M\u00e9en-le-Grand to Laval 174km<\/p>\n
The start tips its hat to the triple winner Louison Bobet, the baker\u2019s boy from Saint M\u00e9en, then the route heads east; if the prevailing wind \u2013 westerly \u2013 does its thing, this will be very fast, but the scenario is well trodden: early doomed break featuring lowly French teams cheered on by the local crowd \u2013 think Ark\u00e9a, Cofidis, Total Energies \u2013 and a sprint finish for Philipsen and company after five days\u2019 waiting.<\/p>\n
Stage nine, Sunday 13 July: Chinon to Chateauroux, 170km<\/p>\n
British fans remember Chateauroux for the first of Mark Cavendish\u2019s 36 stage wins in 2008 and his 32nd in 2021. With not a single rated climb en route, this is bound to be a sprint day, and by this point, the pressure will be mounting on the fast men who are yet to win: if Philipsen and Merlier are on form, the finger will be pointing at Biniam Girmay and Dylan Groenewegen.<\/p>\n
Stage 10, Monday 14 July: Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, 163km<\/p>\n
Just the 10 climbs today in the Massif Central; mainly second category but totalling 4,450m of vertical ascent. This is the first major showdown among the favourites, and at least a couple could see their hopes of winning end here. With climbing from the get-go it will be full on from the start; for the win look to a puncheur like Ireland\u2019s Ben Healy. It\u2019s Bastille Day so the French will bust a gut and leave empty-handed.<\/p>\n
Ben Healy of Ireland during stage one of last year\u2019s Tour. Photograph: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Rest day, Tuesday July 15<\/strong><\/p>\nStage 11, Wednesday 16 July: Toulouse to Toulouse, 154km<\/p>\n
This could go either of three ways: full bunch sprint, reduced bunch sprint, or break. The finale with its series of little hills might burn off a fast man or two, and will certainly make a coordinated chase difficult. This could be the last full bunch sprint of the Tour, so let\u2019s plump for Philipsen; if the break goes and the sprinters\u2019 teams tire in the finale the wily Dane Magnus Cort is a good bet.<\/p>\n
Stage 12, Thursday 17 July: Auch to Hautacam, 181km<\/p>\n
First proper mountain stage up the grim ascent above Lourdes where Miguel Indurain destroyed the field in 1994. There\u2019s a long preamble to the Col du Soulor, the first first-category pass of the race, so expect a massive break targeting the stage win. If the favourites give the break leeway, the winner will be someone who can climb but won\u2019t win overall, so why not the Frenchman Guillaume Martin?<\/p>\n
Stage 13, Friday 18 July: Loudenvielle to Peyragudes individual time trial 11km<\/p>\n
Three kilometres of flat, eight straight uphill against the watch, culminating in a final kilometre at 16%. This is a day for the GC men, with absolutely no hiding or bluffing. Whoever wins here will have a very good chance of winning overall in Paris, so it\u2019s a day for Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard to show exactly what they\u2019ve got in the tank. For everyone else, it\u2019s damage limitation.<\/p>\n
Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia who won the Stage 21 individual time trial from Monaco to Nice last year. Photograph: Jean Catuffe\/Getty ImagesStage 14, Saturday 19 July: Pau to Luchon-Superbagn\u00e8res 183km<\/p>\n
A mountain classic: Cols de Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde, plus the pull up to the ski station, where winners include Federico Bahamontes, Greg LeMond, Hinault and Robert Millar. Four big passes make this a decisive day in the mountains prize with a ton of points on offer; the stage winner will probably be a climber who\u2019s not figuring overall. Enric Mas of Spain might fit that bill, or the Austrian Felix Gall.<\/p>\n
Stage 15, Sunday 20 July: Muret to Carcassonne, 169k<\/p>\n
In the past, the organisers would have left this as a flattish transition stage with a bunch sprint at the end. In the made-for-TV 21st-century Tour, this gets a detour into Le Parc Naturel R\u00e9gional du Haut-Languedoc with a couple of meaty climbs midway through to liven things up. It\u2019s a day for the breakaway artists, who will know that their opportunities are running out: why not the demon descender Matej Mohoric?<\/p>\n
Rest day, Monday July 21<\/strong><\/p>\nStage 16, Tuesday 22 July: Montpellier to Mont Ventoux, 172km<\/p>\n
Moonscape, Tom Simpson, Giant of Provence, wheel out those evergreen lines for the nastiest climb of the Tour so far. The stage is pretty flat as far as B\u00e9doin at the foot of the Bald Mountain, but then it\u2019s uphill for 22 baking or windswept kilometres. A potentially decisive day for the overall contenders. Pogacar and Vingegaard will make the race here, and UAE v Visma could be a battle worthy of the backdrop.<\/p>\n
Stage 17, Wednesday 23 July: Boll\u00e8ne to Valence, 161km<\/p>\n
Potentially a bunch sprint, the last of the Tour, but teams with a sprinter who can climb \u2013 think Intermarch\u00e9 with Girmay for example \u2013 will try and burn off the slightly heavier brethren such as Merlier on the drag to the Col de Pertuis after 66km, particularly if the green jersey is in play; here\u2019s a chance to gain valuable points. It will all hang on wind direction, morale and the peloton\u2019s dwindling reserves of strength.<\/p>\n
Stage 18, Thursday 24 July: Vif to Courchevel Col de la Loze, 171km<\/p>\n
The first of two monstrous Alpine stages, including three super-category passes: the Glandon, Madeleine and the 27km haul up the Col de la Loze to the finish. The script in recent Tours has been for the overall contenders to fight so hard in the biggest mountain stages that the breaks get scooped up before the finish. No reason to expect today to be the exception, so Pogacar or Vingegaard are safe bets for the win.<\/p>\n
Stage 19, Friday 25 July: Albertville to La Plagne, 130km<\/p>\n
Short and brutal, but with only two super-category climbs and they aren\u2019t quite as horrific as the day before\u2019s. The race could well have been decided the day before, in which case the favourites will give a break a lot of headroom, and watch each other to the finish to consolidate what they have. That makes this the final chance for climbers such as Australian Ben O\u2019Connor and Ireland\u2019s Ed Dunbar.<\/p>\n
Stage 20, Saturday 26 July: Nantua to Pontarlier, 185km<\/p>\n
The puncheurs and breakaway specialists will have been waiting for five days with this one on their minds. The battle for the early break will be intense and the fight for the stage could be epic. As well as our old friends Cort and Healy, this will appeal to about half the peloton, wily one-day specialists such as the Dane Mattias Skjelmose.<\/p>\n
Stage 21, Sunday 27 July: Mantes la Ville to Paris Champs \u00c9lys\u00e9es, 120km<\/p>\n
Paradoxically, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Tour finish on the Champs, it\u2019s all change: three laps of the Champs circuit, then three times up the Butte Montmartre. If the overall standings are tight this could be a cliffhanger. It\u2019s 46 years since a Tour winner won a road-race stage into Paris but don\u2019t rule out Pogacar for a final flourish; if not the Slovene, a Classics specialist such as Van der Poel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stage one, Saturday 5 July: Lille M\u00e9tropole to Lille M\u00e9tropole, 185km The climbs of Mont Cassel and Le…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-232625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114784984343524323","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}