The route for the 2025 Tour de France will set the stage for another anticipated battle between reigning champion Tadej Pogacar and rival Jonas Vingegaard with Mont Ventoux among a series of summit finishes.
The route for the 112th edition of the Tour – the first in five years to take place entirely within France's borders – includes six mountain top finishes and two time trials, one of them in the Pyrenees.
At a ceremony in Paris, organisers ASO also revealed the most difficult yet route for the Tour de France Femmes, expanded to a nine-day race that includes four mountain stages.
The men’s race will take place between 5 July and 27 July, with the women’s race starting on 26 July before the winner is crowned on 3 August.
Lille will host the Grand Depart of the men’s race with a series of hilly stages, including a stage five time trial. Following an anti-clockwise route around France, the peloton will head towards the Pyrenees via the Massif Central.
🤩 Here it is, the official route of the #TDF2025!
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) October 29, 2024
🤩 Voici le parcours officiel du #TDF2025 ! pic.twitter.com/HvNLVJSwuI
The middle week will see three consecutive summit finishes on stages 12, 13, and 14, the middle of those being an individual time trial to Peyragudes. Stage 12 will finish in Hautacam while stage 14 crosses the Peyresourde, Aspin and the Tourmalet before finishing in Luchon.
After the second rest day the riders will take on the famed Mont Ventoux on stage 16, and the final battle for yellow will be fought out in the Alps.
A punishing stage 18 will include the Col du Glandon, Col de la Madeleine and the Col de la Loze, a total of 5,500m of climbing on the 171km road to Courchevel, while stage 19 has a summit finish in La Plagne.
After a hilly stage 20 to Pontarlier, the peloton will return to their traditional final stage on the streets of Paris – something which did not take place for the first time in the history of the Tour this year due to the Olympic Games.
The focus on summit finishes points to another battle between three-time winner Pogacar and two-time champion Vingegaard, while Remco Evenepoel may be disappointed by the relative lack of time trialling.
The Tour de France Femmes will feature several mountain stages and three hilly stages in the toughest route tackled in the race’s young history.
