'Tough, irregular, very long' – Remco Evenepoel prepares for Tour de France with Col de la Loze recon

The top Tour de France contenders are currently putting their finishing touches on their preparation for next month's race, spending time at altitude and riding recons of the key Alpine climbs.

Reigning champion Tadej Pogačar is taking part in one final training camp with UAE Team Emirates-XRG at Isola 2000, while his main rivals Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) are based further north in the Alps in Tignes.

Evenepoel, who has ground to make up on Pogačar and Vingegaard after finishing fourth at the Critérium du Dauphiné, ventured out to recon the longest climb of the 2025 Tour de France route earlier this week, the vital ascent of the Col de la Loze.

The climb has been tackled twice before on the Tour, once on stage 17 in 2020 when Miguel Angel López soloed to victory ahead of the Roglič-Pogačar GC battle, and again on stage 17 in 2023 when Pogačar famously cracked on the road to Courchevel, losing the Tour to Vingegaard.

The 26.2km ascent, which averages 6.5%, concludes arguably the queen stage of the 2025 Tour, a 171km stage featuring 5,800 metres of climbing including the Col du Glandon (21.7km at 5.2%) and the Col de la Madeleine (19.1km at 7.9%).

Evenepoel climbed to the top of the Loze, 2,304 metres above sea level, on Sunday alongside Soudal-QuickStep teammates Max Schachmann and Valentin Paret-Peintre before giving his thoughts to local sports club Courchevel Sports Outdoor.

"It's tough, eh? It's very irregular. The climb is very, very long. It's the longest climb of the Tour de France this year," Evenepoel said in a short interview posted to Instagram by Courchevel Sports Outdoor.

"Arriving here is never easy, and it's the first time we'll be climbing from Courchevel. I think it will be a pretty tough stage with the Glandon and the Madeleine. It won't be easy, but it will be a great stage."

Evenepoel wasn't the only Tour de France contender to tackle the Col de la Loze on Sunday.

Courchevel Sports Outdoor also spotted Visma-Lease A Bike riding up the climb, with Jonas Vingegaard joined by Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Victor Campenaerts and several other Visma teammates for the ascent.