The 2025 Tour de France route has been announced in Paris, with the race almost certain to come down to another slugfest between three-time winner Tadej Pogačar and two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard.
Can anyone else put themselves in the mix? How will Ineos Grenadiers approach it? And what can cycling fans look forward to in general from the 112th edition of cycling’s most famous race? Telegraph Sport stares into its crystal ball:
Route highlights: Return of Mont Ventoux and uphill time trial in Pyrenees
Starting on Saturday July 5 in Lille and concluding 21 stages later in Paris, the 2025 Tour takes place entirely on French soil and returns to its traditional finish in the French capital after ending in Nice this year due to the Olympics.
Unlike the brutally hot and hilly 2024 grand depart in Italy, the first yellow jersey of next year’s race looks set to go to a sprinter. In fact, Pogačar and Co might even have to wait as long as a week to challenge for yellow, although do not bet on it. There is a 33km time trial in Caen on stage five, but it does not look hard enough to really shake up the standings.
Weeks two and three, though, will certainly sort the wheat from the chaff. Three summit finishes in the Pyrenees, including a time trial to Peyragudes altiport, come before an ascent of Ventoux, where a Tour stage will finish for the first time since Chris Froome ran up it in 2016.
“After last year I was exhausted, you know how it is,” he told the host of the Tour route unveiling. “I said ‘never again’. Then I went on holiday with my wife and kids and really relaxed for the first time in years. I saw things a bit differently.”
Asked whether he might ride on, he replied: “Yeah, we’ll see.” It is thought he might carry on doing some riding or racing for his own enjoyment.
Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift expands to nine stages
With the addition of a ninth stage in 2025, the Tour de France Femmes continue to grow, slowly but surely. The fourth edition of what has rapidly become the biggest race in women’s cycling features over 17000m of climbing, finishing with a brutal final weekend which takes in a summit finish on the 2,000m Col de la Madeleine and then a final day schlep over the infamous Col de Joux Plane.
It’s a serious route, although Jumbo-Visma team manager Rutger Tijssen did describe the lack of a time trial as “a bit surprising and, frankly, a bit disappointing.”
Expect Demi Vollering, who has completed a move from SD Worx to FDJ-Suez, to challenge for the title she lost narrowly to Kasia Niewadoma (Canyon-SRAM) this year.
