Stage 7 of the 2025 Tour de France brings Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) back to the site of his most emotional victory to date: Mûr-de-Bretagne, where four years ago he took a maiden victory at the Tour and wore the yellow jersey for the first time.
Having lost the opening stage of the 2021 race, Van der Poel produced a stunning performance, attacking the first time up the steep ramp in Brittany to take bonus seconds, before scorching his way up the second rep to the victory. By the time he reached the line, Van der Poel pointed to the sky, with enough time to take over the maillot jaune.
The tears poured out as he remembered his grandfather, French racing icon Raymond Poulidor, who, despite his decorated career, never wore yellow and was dubbed 'The Eternal Second', as he lost out several times to Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx.
Just one day prior to his emotional win, Van der Poel's Alpecin team had worn a jersey honouring Poulidor's Mercier team of old, two years on from his death. It was a special day for him and his family, and no one should be more excited to return to the town than Van der Poel, who this time will start the stage in yellow.
Having put in such a massive effort in the stage 6 breakaway and missed out on the stage win, however, Van der Poel had little to say about his highly anticipated return to the 2km finishing climb, which averages 7%. He might be running out of gas.
"To be honest, I'm not thinking about tomorrow yet. I really had to dig deep today, and it will be very difficult to have the legs to win tomorrow, but we will see," said an exhausted Van der Poel in his yellow jersey press conference, with his next hope for a stage win perhaps coming much later than Friday.
"I have had to say this many times the last few years," that Thursday was one of the hardest-ever days on the bike, "but for sure this was a hard day.
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"I was close to cramping, and I never have this. I just felt also a bit the efforts I did the last few days. Everybody knows my speciality is the classic races, and I just hope to recover well now, and hopefully I can go and try to win a stage now in the coming weeks."
Can anyone stop Pogačar?
With Van der Poel looking laboured and paying for his breathless efforts in the opening six stages, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is now rated as the favourite, to both win stage 7, and move back into the yellow jersey, as he'll start in Saint Malo just one second in arrears of the Dutchman.
Pogačar, after all, was second on that day in 2021, in a Tour which he would go on to dominate. He's a far better rider in 2025, so expect the rainbow jersey to scorch up the steep slopes and likely take his second victory of this year's race, adding to his stage 4 success.
The final 20km are the same as 2021, with a double ascent up Mûr-de-Bretagne to the finish coming after one time up the Côte du Village de Mûr-de-Bretagne, and that first lap up the 2km brute will give those interested in victory a chance to look at that is to come, but without any bonus seconds on offer.
Other former winners include Dan Martin in 2018 and Alexis Vuillermoz a decade ago, but Pogačar could emulate Cadel Evans from 2011, by winning in Mûr-de-Bretagne and eventually riding to overall victory, as the Australian did by beating Alberto Contador on that day and the first time up the climb at the Tour.
His big GC rival, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), will be looking to bounce back after the disappointment of the stage 5 time trial in Caen, where he lost 1:05 to the Slovenian and saw his bid at yellow take a significant hit.
His Visma team have been plenty aggressive throughout the 2025 race and could use the double ascent to mount a full assault on Pogačar's UAE support squad, who have so far been up to all the challenges thrown at them by the Dutch squad's roster of supporting Classics riders.
Vingegaard has been punchy, but not able to beat Pogačar in either of the GC sprints to the line on stages 2 and 4, so a change in that fortune would be a surprise up Mûr-de-Bretagne. This means it will likely be damage limitation and waiting for the first mountain day on stage 10, when eight climbs to Le Mont Dore will surely see a more significant shakeup in the GC battle.
Don't forget about Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) too, who wasn't racing at the 2021 Tour but is more than capable over a punchy final, as a two-time Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner.
He hasn't shown that form yet at this Tour, but he should be on the up after moving to second overall, thanks to his superb time trial victory in Caen in his favoured discipline. With Vingegaard struggling two days ago, maybe the Belgian will see the double climb as a chance to gain more time on the Dane and solidify his second place.
Bubbling under the GC battle will be the top puncheurs at the Tour, many of whom are French, and will be desperately seeking the title of the first French stage winner at this year's Tour. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), who sits fourth overall, is the most likely to upset the superstars, but Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor) could wind back the clock and deliver a trademark victory, or perhaps it could be a day for rising talent Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ).
What's certain is that Mûr-de-Bretagne will bring guaranteed thrill, and the GC stars to the fore. Whether Van der Poel has anything left in the tank to defeat them as he did four years ago looks less likely, but if anyone can muster up the strength to produce a Classic performance on a climb he loves, it's the former World Champion.
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Stage 7 profile(Image credit: A.S.O.)
Stage 7 map(Image credit: Geoatlast)
Stage 7 Sprints
Plédran, km. 139.2
Stage 7 Mountains
Côte du village de Mûr-de-Bretagne (cat. 4), km 178.8
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James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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