Tour de France Rate the 2025 Tour de France

[Tonton]

Gave it an 8.

GC action on many stages, Pogi only blew everyone out of the water on some stages.

fun little stories, I am a sucker for the redemption stories of O'Connor, Thymen and Wut

This ^^^

+ Matthieu had a great first week, Wout gave it his best in Paris. Wow!
+ Jonas couldn't do much, but he tried. Primoz went Kamikaze mode.
+ Florian and Oscar: the revelation. So young: 24 and 22? We'll meet again, and this Tour is where it all began...
+ Ben, Ben, Ben. How many stages can a Ben win?
+ An Italian sprinter in green: no disrespect to others, but it's like a Ferrari in red: the colors of Italy!
+ Thymen Arensman: I'm a fan of yours. Not afraid to fail. Bravo!
+ Tadej Pogacar was smart. Puppy chasing butterflies, those days are over. From his prospective, he had a game plan, he executed. He didn't get greedy.
+ We, the French have our Yates brothers and a win...we needed one.

- Lenny's sticky bottle: seriously, it was cheating and I hope that he learns the lesson, not just trying to follow in the footsteps of Froome and Nibali.
- The Jura stage and the overall route design.

So 8 + and 2 -, if science (and logic) are my friends, It's an 8.

 

[Andre]

I gave it a 4. Things I liked: Jasper winning, Merlier winning, Paret-Peintre winning at Mont Ventoux, Van Wilder appearing magically from the heavens to pull his team-mate to victory. Wout destroying Tadej, the emergence of Lipo, MVP winning, Remco shaking hands with Oumi. Arensman complete emotional sensory breakdown on second time winning. Things I hated: Tadej winning, Milan winning, Milan yelling at Girmay for no reason. Most mountain stages I found dull, Wellens winning. Most suspenseful and dramatic: Tadej crashing. And Healy surprise

 

[Netserk]

Some lukewarm takes:

• Philipsen's crash was the incidence that most negatively affected the race
• Ganna would have won the ITT if not for his crash
• Stage 11 was the best GC stage and it almost saved the race
• Lipowitz only ended on the podium thanks to Rogla
• Narváez was the best mountain domestique in the race
• La Plagne was good to watch
• Bambi was too thin too soon and overraced this year
• Merlier showed just how limited he is as a sprinter
• Visma had the right strategy in all mountain stages
• Wout van Aert's victory absolved him of all blame
• Van der Poel was too active
• Pogi was smarter and more mature, but he will regret not winning green

 

[Red Rick]

Some lukewarm takes:

• Philipsen's crash was the incidence that most negatively affected the race
• Ganna would have won the ITT if not for his crash
• Stage 11 was the best GC stage and it almost saved the race
• Lipowitz only ended on the podium thanks to Rogla
• Narváez was the best mountain domestique in the race
• La Plagne was good to watch
• Bambi was too thin too soon and overraced this year
• Merlier showed just how limited he is as a sprinter
• Visma had the right strategy in all mountain stages
• Wout van Aert's victory absolved him of all blame
• Van der Poel was too active
• Pogi was smarter and more mature, but he will regret not winning green

And just when the forum needed actual hot takes, El Netserk returned.

 

[Netserk]

And just when the forum needed actual hot takes, El Netserk returned.

As a good friend told me, being safe edgy is a rhetorical condom and it feels better au naturel.

 

[Psycat]

Think it's the worst Tour in atleast 10 years, predictable, few memorable stages, very putrid final couple of mountain stages.

Still entertaining though. 4/10. Thinking about it further it's probably closer to a 3(or even 2) if you average Tour is a 5 but seems im in a happy mood today.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Positiv:
No major GC crashes (very surprising given what I thought would be a terrible hectic first week).
A very good Ventoux stage which I did not expect at all.
An entertaining Paris stage.

Negative: Pretty much everything else, few standout things:
- It's pretty outrageous how bad the GC field outside the top 5 was, someone said it reads like a Ruta del Sol field and I agree. In the end we had only 11 riders going for GC at all, hast that ever happened?
- While historically often being pretty meh competitions the Green jersey and Polkadot battle were absolutely terrible.
- I fail to see how we had a lot of good breakaway action, the Ventoux stage was good but apart from that? I fail to see how people going solo for 20-40 minutes at the end of a stage is entertaining, be it on rolling terrain (Healy, Wellens, Groves) or uphil (O'Connor, Arensman)
- While being better than a pure flat sprint these early puncheur finishes are becoming slightly overrated I feel. Since 2021 it's a bit of the same formular, you know no break will really make it and at the end it's GC guys led by Pogacar vs MVDP. Now there isn't even WVA or Alaphilippe anymore.


3/10

 

[tobydawq]

Some lukewarm takes:

• Philipsen's crash was the incidence that most negatively affected the race
• Ganna would have won the ITT if not for his crash
• Stage 11 was the best GC stage and it almost saved the race
• Lipowitz only ended on the podium thanks to Rogla
• Narváez was the best mountain domestique in the race
• La Plagne was good to watch
• Bambi was too thin too soon and overraced this year
• Merlier showed just how limited he is as a sprinter
• Visma had the right strategy in all mountain stages
• Wout van Aert's victory absolved him of all blame
• Van der Poel was too active
• Pogi was smarter and more mature, but he will regret not winning green

Lol, way to come back, immediately expressing regret that Pogi didn't crash out.

 

[Netserk]

Lol, way to come back, immediately expressing regret that Pogi didn't crash out.

Thank you for immediately interpreting my post in the single most hostile manner possible without any charity whatsoever.

It was the only stage where Vingegaard gapped Pogi, and it looked possible midway through that he could have been on the right side of a split that could have gone all the way.

 

[Potomac]

The first week was great but once they hit the high mountains it became a snooze fest.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

- It's pretty outrageous how bad the GC field outside the top 5 was, someone said it reads like a Ruta del Sol field and I agree. In the end we had only 11 riders going for GC at all, hast that ever happened?

Its normally not that many more than 11-14 riders riding for GC. In the last two years De Plus and Castroviejo were 15th and neither of them rode the Tour for GC. In 2022 Bob Jungels was 11th more than 45 minutes behind, Powless 12th and Luis Leon Sanchez 13th, so one could argue that only 10 riders rode for GC here.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

My immediate thought are a 5.5/10

Underwhelming GC battle, the crucial mountain stages and the tiny chance of an exiting duel here were completely punctured by a superior Pogi and the rest by Visma-logics, besides two stages with an under-performing wing shot Vingo

No contest for green jersey with Philipsen crash.

Same with missing MvDP for the second part of the tour, that otherwise could've spiced things op, just as a fit and un-injured Remco most possible could've delivered.

However heroic efforts by riders in second row as Arensman, O'Connor, Healey and more.

BUT, just like I gave the Giro 25 edition an 8/10 still missing to watch apparently "horrible snooze party stages", and stated I would come up with a more in-depth as-per-stage analysis score weighted with the batte for the jerseys, I on the contrary miss to watch what apparently was good stages in this Tour

So maybe later this year I'll come up with more in-depth leveled scores with maybe Giro 25 = 7/10 and Tour 25 = 6/10, but really can't tell at time being.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

7, although maybe more of a 6 (can’t change vote).

Positives:

• Wout’s hammer saving his / TJV’s race at the final opportunity, dropping the undroppable yellow jersey; for me far and away the most exciting moment of the Tour
• Last stage in general was a hit for me, even if it can be refined
• Ben Healy
• The Red Bull Alp’s chaos was entertaining if not successful
• I disagree with a lot of the takes on Ventoux; thought it was fun with Vingegaard trying hard to break Pogacar and ultimately restoring some minimal tension to the race

Negatives:

• Roglic and Remco came in unprepared due to crashes & illness, which eliminated what likely would have been the most interesting race within the race
• Vingegaard’s ITT took a lot of the tension out, and Hautacam sucked the rest out the back door
• No GC rider aside from Pogacar won a stage; this is one of the first times I can remember it being essentially a bust for all GC riders aside from the winner; would have loved to see Roglic get a stage win in reward for his Co tarot style YOLO attacks
• Some weak weekend stages and placement of some exciting stages like Ventoux during the work week

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

Regarding the polka dot jersey, I’d prefer they award points based on times up key climbs. Pick 10 or so climbs and set up timing mats at the top and bottom. Person with the lowest aggregate time up those climbs gets awarded KOM. Maybe some bonus points for being fastest up the top 3 or so climbs. Then it becomes less about being opportunistic, getting into breaks, etc and more about hammering the climbs. Some would sandbag the rest of the stage so maybe have a separate KOM time limit so you can’t ride fully with the grupetto then hammer on mountain stages.

 

[YavorD]

Regarding the polka dot jersey, I’d prefer they award points based on times up key climbs. Pick 10 or so climbs and set up timing mats at the top and bottom. Person with the lowest aggregate time up those climbs gets awarded KOM. Maybe some bonus points for being fastest up the top 3 or so climbs. Then it becomes less about being opportunistic, getting into breaks, etc and more about hammering the climbs. Some would sandbag the rest of the stage so maybe have a separate KOM time limit so you can’t ride fully with the grupetto then hammer on mountain stages.

That would be so much harder, near impossible,for people to follow what happens, so I don't see how we, as fans, would benefit from that.

At leasy having strong climbers in the breaks could create some interesting racing situations.

 

[VayaVayaVaya]

That would be so much harder, near impossible,for people to follow what happens, so I don't see how we, as fans, would benefit from that.

At leasy having strong climbers in the breaks could create some interesting racing situations.

It’s a half baked idea for sure. Honestly, I think the race for the polka dots is totally irrelevant as is so I don’t follow it anyways.

 

[YavorD]

It’s a half baked idea for sure. Honestly, I think the race for the polka dots is totally irrelevant as is so I don’t follow it anyways.

Most of the time it pointless, that's true, but I put it down to the lack of time trails.
It's been said many times in this forum, but with the small amount of TT's, GC wannabes like Gall or THJ think they hava a chance for something decent/big in GC, so that's what they do.
If we have 70+ kilometres of flat time trial the best these risers could do would be to fight for the polka dot while stage hunting in the mountains. That would create an interesting battle for the polka dot, I think.

 

[Red Rick]

7, although maybe more of a 6 (can’t change vote).

Positives:

• Wout’s hammer saving his / TJV’s race at the final opportunity, dropping the undroppable yellow jersey; for me far and away the most exciting moment of the Tour
• Last stage in general was a hit for me, even if it can be refined
• Ben Healy
• The Red Bull Alp’s chaos was entertaining if not successful
• I disagree with a lot of the takes on Ventoux; thought it was fun with Vingegaard trying hard to break Pogacar and ultimately restoring some minimal tension to the race

Negatives:

• Roglic and Remco came in unprepared due to crashes & illness, which eliminated what likely would have been the most interesting race within the race
• Vingegaard’s ITT took a lot of the tension out, and Hautacam sucked the rest out the back door
• No GC rider aside from Pogacar won a stage; this is one of the first times I can remember it being essentially a bust for all GC riders aside from the winner; would have loved to see Roglic get a stage win in reward for his Co tarot style YOLO attacks
• Some weak weekend stages and placement of some exciting stages like Ventoux during the work week

Ben Healy won a stage.

 

[Netserk]

Ben Healy won a stage.

He wasn't a GC rider when he won a stage.

Just like it wouldn't have been the case if Voeckler had beaten Lulu in 2011.

 

[Valv.Piti]

So whats your rating then, Netserk?

And I think you can remove that avatar now. Possibly even with a new picture of the stage he won a couple of days ago...

 

[Gigs_98]

Some lukewarm takes:

• Philipsen's crash was the incidence that most negatively affected the race
• Ganna would have won the ITT if not for his crash
• Stage 11 was the best GC stage and it almost saved the race
• Lipowitz only ended on the podium thanks to Rogla
• Narváez was the best mountain domestique in the race
• La Plagne was good to watch
• Bambi was too thin too soon and overraced this year
• Merlier showed just how limited he is as a sprinter
• Visma had the right strategy in all mountain stages
• Wout van Aert's victory absolved him of all blame
• Van der Poel was too active
• Pogi was smarter and more mature, but he will regret not winning green

Let's go through it point by point:

• Disagree, this way at least we almost got something resembling a battle for green. Actually I genuinely don't know what you mean by this.
• Lukewarm take indeed
• Can't expect us to read that and not think you're making a comment on the crash.
• Nah that's just a bad take
• Most impactful mountain domestique perhaps. If you have that as your definition for best...
• Pretty cold
• Disagree, mostly think you're trying to trigger Remco fans with this one anyway.
• Arctic cold
• Another take which is just bad.
• Stelvio when it's on the Giro schedule cold
• I agree again
• Another one I agree with.

So at the end I agree with 5/12 which I would say is a pretty decent rate for lukewarm takes. I approve this comment.

 

[Valv.Piti]

You all know everyone disliking Pog would be completely up in arms and scream greedy etc at him. Green is simply not valuable enough to try to win compared to the cost. And he won the polkadots anyways

 

[Peyroteo94]

Some lukewarm takes:

• Philipsen's crash was the incidence that most negatively affected the race
• Ganna would have won the ITT if not for his crash
• Stage 11 was the best GC stage and it almost saved the race
• Lipowitz only ended on the podium thanks to Rogla
• Narváez was the best mountain domestique in the race
• La Plagne was good to watch
• Bambi was too thin too soon and overraced this year
• Merlier showed just how limited he is as a sprinter
• Visma had the right strategy in all mountain stages
• Wout van Aert's victory absolved him of all blame
• Van der Poel was too active
• Pogi was smarter and more mature, but he will regret not winning green

Yup, it would be really better to see Vingegaard crushing his opponents...

 

[Netserk]

Yup, it would be really better to see Vingegaard crushing his opponents...

How would a 2-3 minutes buffer over Pogi before the mountains lead to that?

 

[Peyroteo94]

How would a 2-3 minutes buffer over Pogi before the mountains lead to that?

What the hell are you talking about? Pogacar lost 30 seconds in that crash, he would lose 1 minute at most if they cooperated and would still be in front of Vingegaard.