{"id":239932,"date":"2025-07-05T11:06:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T11:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/239932\/"},"modified":"2025-07-05T11:06:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T11:06:13","slug":"tour-de-france-2025-live-grand-depart-start-time-and-stage-1-route-as-sprinters-set-for-battle-on-streets-of-lille","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/239932\/","title":{"rendered":"Tour de France 2025 live: Grand Depart start time and stage 1 route as sprinters set for battle on streets of Lille"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Stage 1 route<\/p>\n

Lille<\/a> hosts both the start and finish of today\u2019s stage one, which avoids the cobbled sectors of Paris-Roubaix<\/a> throughout this region – no doubt to the relief of the majority of the peloton. <\/p>\n

Three category-four climbs mean the fight for the King of the Mountains jersey also begins today, and the profile of the race suits a doomed breakaway getting some airtime for their jersey sponsors and nabbing some minor points in the polka-dot classification.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s highly unlikely the sprinters\u2019 teams will pass up the opportunity to take yellow on the opening stage of the Tour, for the first time since Alexander Kristoff won in 2020. So expect any escapees to be reeled in well in advance of the wind-up to the flat finish in the city itself, and the likes of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Lidl-Trek, and Soudal Quick-Step to control proceedings in preparation for the battle to the line. <\/p>\n

Flo Clifford5 July 2025 12:04<\/p>\n

<\/a>How to watch the Tour de France 2025<\/p>\n

The 2025 Tour de France will be broadcast live on ITV4 in the UK, in what is the last year of free-to-air coverage of the race before it is exclusively shown on TNT Sports and Discovery+. <\/p>\n

Viewers can also stream the race online via ITVX app and website, and subscribers can watch the action on the TNT Sports and Discovery+ apps.<\/p>\n

Highlights<\/p>\n

Each stage will packaged into hourly highlights shows on ITV4, typically starting at around 7pm BST. The highlights can be streamed on ITVX with the website and app. <\/p>\n

Flo Clifford5 July 2025 11:49<\/p>\n

<\/a>Why the dominance of Tadej Pogacar and the \u2018big four\u2019 will warp the 2025 Tour de France<\/p>\n

The Tour loves an anniversary and you may notice tributes to Bernard Hinault<\/a> sprinkled through the route, 40 years after his fifth and final yellow jersey in 1985, a nice touch even if it serves to underline the long, long French wait for another home winner. You can bet Hinault would not have predicted Slovenia would be the dominant nation in the Alps and Pyrenees 40 years on, not least because it didn\u2019t yet exist.<\/p>\n

Tadej Pogacar<\/a> and his fellow Slovenian Primoz Roglic<\/a> make up two of the \u201cbig four\u201d, along with Belgium\u2019s Remco Evenepoel<\/a> and the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, who all start the Tour de France for the second year in a row. Last year\u2019s mouthwatering four-way contest was scuppered by a crash in the opening week, which killed off Roglic\u2019s challenge and harmed Evenepoel\u2019s, and much of the talk among them this week has been simply of survival.<\/p>\n

Flo Clifford5 July 2025 11:33<\/p>\n

<\/a>Five key stages where the Tour de France may be won or lost<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Tour de France<\/a> is a real \u2018Tour of France\u2019, taking place entirely within French borders for the first time since 2020. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also one of the most brutal routes in recent history, featuring a real \u2018Who\u2019s Who\u2019 of the Tour\u2019s most fearsome, infamous climbs: Mont Ventoux, Hautacam, Superbagneres, and one stage features the trifecta of hors-categorie ascents the Col de la Madeleine, Col du Glandon, and Col de la Loze, the highest point of this year\u2019s race (Souvenir Henri Desgrange, named after the Tour\u2019s intrepid founder).<\/p>\n

There are pitfalls throughout the route for any yellow jersey hopefuls to avoid, with crosswinds threatening to wreak havoc in a tricky, punchy opening week in the north of France, before the real mountains begin almost halfway through the race.<\/p>\n

Flo Clifford5 July 2025 11:21<\/p>\n

<\/a>Tour de France 2025 stage-by-stage guide<\/p>\n

The 2025 Tour de France<\/a> is nearly upon us, and history is on the line as Tadej Pogacar<\/a> bids to become only the sixth rider ever to win four yellow jerseys. <\/p>\n

This year\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Lawrence Ostlere<\/strong> has put together a handy guide of every stage in this year\u2019s race:<\/p>\n

Flo Clifford5 July 2025 11:13<\/p>\n

<\/a>Tour de France 2025<\/p>\n

The 2025 Tour de France<\/a> will be the 112th edition of the race, as Tadej Pogacar<\/a> aims to defend the yellow jersey and win the fourth Tour of his career.<\/p>\n

The route begins in Lille, Normandy before making a clockwise route around France, via the Pyrenees and then the Alps, before the finale in Paris. The race will return to its roots with all 21 stages taking place in its homeland, the first exclusively French Tour for five years. <\/p>\n

Flo Clifford5 July 2025 11:03<\/p>\n

<\/a>Good morning<\/p>\n

Hello and welcome to The Independent\u2019s live coverage of the Tour de France 2025 Grand Depart!<\/p>\n

Stage 1 is a battle for the sprinters in Lille with not just a stage win up for grabs but the chance to sport the yellow jersey, the first time the fast men will contest the win since 2020.<\/p>\n

Flo Clifford5 July 2025 10:55<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stage 1 route Lille hosts both the start and finish of today\u2019s stage one, which avoids the cobbled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-239932","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\/114800307969082479","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239932","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=239932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}