The 2025 Tour de France will be decided in the thin air of the high mountains, with the 112th edition of the Grand Boucle including a triple whammy of mountain finishes in the Pyrenees, a summit finish atop Mont Ventoux and two final mountain stage in the high Alps to Courchevel and La Plagne.
The 2025 route also includes two time trials but they should have a limited impact on the fight for overall victory. The first is a flat and fast stage around Caen in Normandy in week one, while the second is a short mountain time trial on the Col de Peyresourde to the Peyragudes ski station landing strip.
The full routes of the 2025 Tour de France were revealed in Paris in late October by race director Christian Prudhomme after the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift route was revealed by Marion Rousse. The two races will again overlap by two days in 2025.
The 2025 men's Tour de France will start on Saturday, July 5 in Lille and end in Paris on Sunday, July 27. The Tour de France Femmes includes nine days of racing from Vannes to Châtel between Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, August 3.
The 2025 Tour de France includes 3320km of racing across seven flat stages, six hilly stages, six mountain stages and two time trials. There are two rest days but the total vertical gain will be 51,550m.
Prudhomme boasted that the 2025 Tour will be held 100% in France for the first time in five years.
The route and numerous mountain finishes appear to offer a perfect scenario for another Tadej Pogačar - Jonas Vingegaard battle. The limited number of time trial kilometres perhaps is a handicap for Remco Evenepoel but helps the French climbers like David Gaudu of Groupama-FDJ and Lenny Martinez, who will ride for Bahrain Victorious in 2025.
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184 riders representing 23 teams will line-up for the start of the Tour in Lille Métropole. The 18 WorldTour teams are automatically invited, with Lotto and Israel-Premier Tech set to full the two places as best ranked ProTeams in 2024.
Stage 1: Lille Métropole - Lille Métropole, 185km - Flat
(Image credit: A.S.O.)
The 2025 Grand Départ will be contested in northern France. Stage 1 starts and finishes in the centre of the Lille and covers 185km via a northwest loop, with the sprinters expected to fight for the first stage win and yellow jersey.
Time bonuses will be awarded at the finish of each stage, with 10, 6 and 4 seconds awarded to the first, second and third riders, respectively.
The riders will enjoy several nights in the same hotel near Lille, with stage 2 from Lauwin-Planque south of the city, to Boulogne-sur-Mer on the coast. At 212km, this is the longest stage of the 2025 Tour.
This stage is hillier and more exposed to crosswinds from the Channel, with the Saint-Étienne-au-Mont (900m at 11%) and the Côte d'Outreau (800m at 8.8%) in the final ten kilometres. Wout Van Aert won a similar stage to Calais in 2022 with a late solo attack and Peter Sagan won on the uphill finish in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 2012, so this is a day for the puncheurs and perhaps a change in the race lead.
Stage 3 runs from Valenciennes to Dunkerque on the coast, with summer crosswinds a possible extra danger in the final 35km. The 2025 Grand Départ will not race on the cobbles of northern France but the stages will be stressful and intense.
The Tour de France returns to the heartlands of French cycling in 2025, with week one jumping across from Lille to Picardy, Normandy and Brittany before heading south via the Massif Central for the first rest day in Toulouse.
The Tour leaves the Lille-Nord de France area on the 173km stage 4 from Amiens, giving the sprinters another shot at victory in Rouen, though the challenging final kilometres twist around the town.
Stage 5: Caen - Caen, 33km - Individual Time Trial
(Image credit: A.S.O.)
The first time trial is on stage 5 around Caen and runs over a flat and fast 33km loop. The city celebrates its millennium in 2025 and has been chasing a stage for a decade. For a day, the town famous for calvados and cider will be the centre of the cycling world.
Stage 6 starts in Bayeux and ends in Vire Normandie after 201km. The rolling stage includes six categorised climbs and 3,500 metres of climbing, with a 700-metre, 10% ramp to the finish line.
The GC tension rises even higher for the stage 7 finish on the Mûr-de-Bretagne hilltop finish. The 194km stage will celebrate local legend and the last French Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault, who will be 70 in November.
Mathieu van der Poel won alone on the Mûr-de-Bretagne in 2021 with a searing attack to take the yellow jersey. Pogačar will surely try to attack here, with two climbs of the Mûr-de-Bretagne in the final 17km of the stage offering two chances to attack.
Stage 8: Saint-Méen-le-Grand - Laval Espace Mayenne, 174km - Flat
(Image credit: ASO)
The 2025 Tour route turns south on the 174km stage 8 with finishes in Laval and then the 170km stage 9 in Châteauroux, where Cavendish won in 2008, 2011 and 2021
Stage 8 celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of three-time Tour winner Louison Bobet.
The final 50km of stage 9 zig-zags north and south in the hope crosswinds could cause chaos on the 170-kilometre southeasterly route from Chinon to Châteauroux.
Stage 10: Ennezat - Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, 163km - Mountain
(Image credit: ASO)
The Tour de France will race on through Bastille Day is on Monday, July 14, heading deep into the Massif Central. Because of the public holiday, the first rest day of the 2025 Tour de France comes on Tuesday rather than the usual Monday.
Stage 10 includes the little-known Croix Morand and Croix Saint-Robert climbs before the finish at Le Mont-Dore and the Puy du Sancy. It is only 163km long but includes 4,400 metres of climbing on the little-known Massif Central country roads.
The Pyrenees stand out in week two of the 2025 Tour de France, with a triplet of three mountain finishes, including the return of a mountain time trial.
Stage 11 covers a 154km loop around Toulouse and should suit the sprinters, but they will have to suffer. The riders will see the Pyrenees looming on the horizon.
Stage 12: Auch - Hautacam, 181km - Mountain finish
(Image credit: ASO)
Stage 12 runs 181km from Auch to Hautacam, a climb which has been used six times in the Tour de France – most famously in 1996 when Bjarne Riis powered away to win in the yellow jersey. In 2022 Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar clashed on the Hautacam, with the Dane dropping his rival on the way to his first Tour victory.
The 13.6km climb has an average gradient of 7.8%. In 2025 it is preceded by 100km of flat valley roads and only minor climbs. Expect more big ring attacks on the climb to the finish.
Stage 13: Loudenvielle - Peyragudes, 11km - Individual Time Trial
(Image credit: ASO)
The Pyrenean triple whammy includes an 11km mountain stage between two mountain finishes. Stage 13 will climb from the valley town of Loudenvielle up to the Peyragudes airport landing strip at the ski station below the Col de Peyresourde.
Eight of the stage's 11km will come on the climb itself. It will be a true mountain time trial; the effort will be intense as riders try to climb at speed but also stay aero. It could give Vingegaard a chance to gain time on Pogačar, or for the Slovenian to tighten his grip on the race.
There is no time to recover from the TT on stage 14, with the final day in the Pyrenees arguably the queen stage of the 2025 Tour. It covers 183km and 4,950 metres of climbing.
The stage starts in Pau and climbs the Col du Tourmalet, Col d'Aspin and Col de Peyresourde before concluding with a climb up to the Luchon-Superbagnères ski station. The Superbagnères climb has not been used since 1989, but new bridges and a new ski lift will make the logistics far easier for the huge Tour caravan.
Pure climbers like Imerio Massignan, Federico Bahamontes and Robert Millar have won there, and in 1986 Greg LeMond cracked Bernard Hinault to set up overall victory. The stage follows the same route as it did back then, and we could see a similar outcome in 2025.
Stage 15 is rolling, running over 169km, and takes the Tour east from Muret to Carcassonne. Another post-stage transfer follows as Montpellier hosts the second rest day on Monday, July 21.
Stage 16: Montpellier - Mont Ventoux, 172km - Mountain finish
(Image credit: ASO)
The third week of the Tour confirms the mountainous profile for 2025, with a finish atop Mont Ventoux and then two further mountain top finishes above 2,000 metres.
Stage 16 covers 172km, starting near the Mediterranean coast in Montpellier before climbing high to the exposed summit of the Mont Ventoux. In 2025 the stage covers the classic road to the rocky, exposed summit, climbing 15.7km at 8.8%.
The Tour last finished at the summit in 2013 when Chris Froome won. He also filled the headlines in 2016, when strong winds forced ASO to move the finish down the climb to Chalet Reynard. Froome crashed into a motorbike and then ran part of the route in search of a new bike. ASO will be hoping for similar headline-grabbing drama but without the late change in the route and race safety issues.
The 169km stage 17 to Valence is classified as a flat stage, and while the sprinters' teams might be keen to control the race for one of seven possible sprint opportunities, it could perhaps be a day for the breakaway before the route climbs into the Alps.
Stage 18: Vif - Courchevel Col de la Loze, 171km - Mountain finish
(Image credit: ASO)
There is no finish on the hairpins of L'Alpe d'Huez, which is expected in 2026, yet stage 18 to the summit of the Col de la Loze is arguably even harder and goes higher to conclude 171km of racing.
The Col de la Loze has been climbed twice before in the Tour, first in 2020 and again in 2023 when Pogačar famously cracked to Vingegaard and admitted via radio: "I'm gone, I'm dead." Both stages climbed the Col de la Loze from Méribel, via the steep bike-path sector before a descent to the finish in Courchevel. In 2025, stage 18 will end at the 2,304m-high summit after climbing from the other side of the mountain.
The 171 km stage starts in Vif and climbs the Glandon (21.7km at 5.1%), the Col de la Madeleine (19.2 km at 7.9%) before climbing to Courchevel and then up again to the Col de la Loze. The final climb starts in Moûtiers in the valley and then climbs 26.2km at 6.5%, making it one of the longest finish climbs in Tour history.
The stage includes 5,500 metres of climbing, another record for the Tour de France according to Prudhomme, and awards the special Souvenir Henri Desgrange for the highest climb of the race.
Stage 19: Albertville - La Plagne, 130km - Mountain
(Image credit: ASO)
The high mountains continue on stage 19 from Albertville to La Plagne. The stage is run over just 130km, but it's another multi-mountain stage, with the Héry-sur-Ugine (11.3km at 5.1%), the Col des Saisies (13.7km at 6.4%), the Col du Pré (12.6km at 7.7%), and the Cormet de Roselend (5.9km at 6.3%) filling the route. The stage is also the route for the L'Étape du Tour de France sportif ride on July 20, held a week before the race.
The final climb up to La Plagne is 19.1km long at 7.2% and is where the late and much-loved Laurent Fignon won twice in the 1980s. La Plagne sits at 2,052 metres and so is the second consecutive thin-air mountain finish in the third week of the Tour. With just two stages left to race, this day should crown the overall Tour winner.
The Tour route heads north from the Alps to Paris with even more transfers. Stage 20 from Nantua to Pontarlier starts near the Swiss border and Lake Geneva and heads north through the lower Jura mountains. The 185km is not flat and so perfect for a final breakaway attempt.
Stage 21: Mantes-la-Ville - Paris Champs-Élysées, 120km - Flat
(Image credit: ASO)
Despite the success of the 2024 Tour finish in Nice, the final stage of the 2025 race will return to Paris and a likely sprint on the Champs-Elysées on the 50th anniversary of the first finish there.
The 120km stage starts in Mantes-la-Ville to the northwest of the French capital before surely offering a last chance to the sprinters and reward for their suffering in the mountains.
Like Bernard Thevenet in 1975, the winner of the 2025 yellow jersey will be crowned with the Arc du Triomphe in the background as the sun sets over Paris and the 112th Tour de France.
Cyclingnews will have live coverage of all 21 stages of the 2025 Tour de France, along with race reports, galleries, results, and exclusive features and news.
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
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