Tour de France Tour de France 2025: How does the first week rank?

[Netserk]

How does the first week of this edition compare to the first week of previous editions of the Tour?

Was it better than all of them, just simply the best?

Were all the others from recent years even better, and this one not quite on the same lvl?

 

[Red Rick]

- 2024 was better I guess simply due to already going through the Alps and hitting the gravel
- 2023 had the best first 10 stages this century
- 2022 was better
- 2021 was better but we'd already hit the Alps - fairly similar before the Alps
- 2020 was better but only because he had already hit the Pyrenees
- 2019 was better
- 2018 was worse I guess
- 2017 was better because but part of that is already having had the queen stage.

And I just realized I've rated 3 different first 10 stages with Planche De Belles Filles as better than this one I have clearly and utterly abandoned my morals.

 

[E_F_]

To be perfectly honest I had fallen completely out of love with cycling before being drawn back in (harder than ever) by the Danish Grand Depart, but this first week is far and away below 2022, 2023, and 2024 in my opinion.

 

[Red Rick]

For greatest similarity I'll just give it to 2021, becuase it was literally the most similar

 

[Netserk]

For greatest similarity I'll just give it to 2021, becuase it was literally the most similar

If you had to order the different years, 2021 & 2025 would appear next to each other?

Most similar lvl, not most similar.

 

[Red Rick]

If you had to order the different years, 2021 & 2025 would appear next to each other?

Most similar lvl, not most similar.

Yeah they'd be next to each other. But them being similar makes it easier to compare the overall vibe I get from them. That said I'm probably less into it than most - shocking I know - because I'm actually just a bit bored of Pogacar vs Vingegaard.

 

[Izzyeviel]

I regret spending 30 quid to watch it.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Dont see why its relevant, it mainly comes down to the parcours

 

[Netserk]

Dont see why its relevant, it mainly comes down to the parcours

 

[Valv.Piti]

Are we not really just ranking first week parcours?

 

[Pozzovivo]

First half of the Tour has been 4/10 for me. Below average so far. Worst in many, many years.

 

[Rackham]

Absolutely dire. Beyond dire. Inexplicable behavior from so many teams who're outright refusing to race transition stages (yesterday's VdP spectacle was the ultimate fork in the eye to all those other teams who do absolutely nothing in this race).

And the Vinge-Pog squabble is getting old. The race needs some peps, hopefully that'll come in the second half of the race.

 

[Pozzovivo]

Absolutely dire. Beyond dire. Inexplicable behavior from so many teams who're outright refusing to race transition stages (yesterday's VdP spectacle was the ultimate fork in the eye to all those other teams who do absolutely nothing in this race).

And the Vinge-Pog squabble is getting old. The race needs some peps, hopefully that'll come in the second half of the race.

Hear hear!

 

[slim charles]

I don't think it was as bad as first part of the Giro, but it wasn't that entertaining to be honest. Certainly not as fun as last couple of years.

Basically:

 

[Red Rick]

And the Vinge-Pog squabble is getting old. The race needs some peps, hopefully that'll come in the second half of the race.

It's like a few uphill sprints and then it's mud flinging exaggerrated by the media which is 90% of it.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

First half of the Tour has been 4/10 for me. Below average so far. Worst in many, many years.

Worst in many, many years=4/10? What kind of scale is that?

 

[HashRouge]

I've only been watching seriously since 2022, but I'm enjoying this edition the least of all the ones I've watched. It feels like it's been lacking a little something and I can't quite put my finger on what. On the plus side, in two days time I should be halfway up Hautacam getting to experience the atmosphere first hand for the first time. Let's all pray that once we enter the mountains, we start to get some sort of crazy Pog/ Vingegaard ding dong back and forth a la 2023. The first two weeks of the race that year were about the most exciting sporting even I've ever seen.

 

[E_F_]

Worst in many, many years=4/10? What kind of scale is that?

Probably the scale of someone who generally enjoys the first week of the TdF.

 

[Pozzovivo]

Worst in many, many years=4/10? What kind of scale is that?

It's my subjective scale of enertainment value. I rate every stage after they finish for all GT stages. The Tour is typically the most entertaining race and 4/10 is actually a poor score comparatively to all other GT's the last 5 years.

 

[ashhutch1997]

I voted 2021, as it was in a similar part of the country, and I think given the area, ASO made the best of it. In terms of first weeks say -
2023
2022
2019
2024
2025
2021
2020
2017
2018
2016
I think people on here are making out to be worse than it really was, other than this weekends stages, it's been the pretty good considering they were in northern France.

 

[ashhutch1997]

Absolutely dire. Beyond dire. Inexplicable behavior from so many teams who're outright refusing to race transition stages (yesterday's VdP spectacle was the ultimate fork in the eye to all those other teams who do absolutely nothing in this race).

I respect you as a forum Legend, but this is just way overexagerated IMO, it really wasn't that bad. Compare this first week to 2011, it puts into some context that it wasn't too bad.
If you want a dire first week, go watch the first week of any Tour from 1990/20's under Jean Marie Leblanc.
Although I agree with you that the media massively overhype it.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Once again, we have a grand total of 5 teams who can win a stage from the peloton, which would have been unthinkable in almost every other era. Once again, the remaining 18 teams have decided pre-race that they have zero interest in doing anything than meekly rolling over for said 5 teams, which would also have been unthinkable in almost any other era. All in all, it's been a great reflection of how completely and utterly calcified the sport is at the highest level right now.

As for ranking them, we can fairly easily split things:
- 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020 and 2019 were all good by first week standards (with 2023 obviously on a level of its own)
- 2025, 2021, 2018, 2017 and 2016 all had a lot of problems:
2016 had had 4 mountain stages by this point and other than Froome attacking on the descent of the final climb once and Dumoulin getting caught out by a storm in the final 5 minutes, I can't remember a single distinct thing because of how negative the racing was. The difference between Le Lioran that year and in 2024 is especially insane.
2017 had a lot of crashes, the bogus Sagan DQ and 5 flat sprints in 10 days (with Kittel utterly dominant to boot)
2018 also had a lot of crashes (+ Dumoulin's mechanical on MdB) which would wind up helping Thomas quite a bit and generally not a whole lot happened in the first 9 stages before we got one of the most negatively races mountain stages of the whole Sky era on stage 10
2021 was one of the worst first weeks ever for crashes and we all knew the race was over after stage 8
And then this year has had zero stages that were better than decent coupled with the issues mentioned above

I think any ranking of these bottom 5 years is defensible. I guess I'd put 2025 closest to 2016, although that mainly says a lot about how badly 2016 was raced given that that should have been a much better week based solely on the route.

 

[HashRouge]

It's like a few uphill sprints and then it's mud flinging exaggerrated by the media which is 90% of it.

I think this is probably it for me. I think I would be more entertained if Vingegaard had some hope of beating Pogacar in this sort of finish, but 9/10 (if not more) we all know Pog will get the better of him.

Looking back to 2023, it was set up absolutely beautifully by that stage 5 and 6 combination. First JV drops TP so badly we were all screaming "Tour over", then TP fights back so fiercely it was suddenly "Tour on".

The ideal scenario this time round would have been for JV to take 30+ seconds out of TP on the TT, as then Pog's two stage wins and bonus seconds would have more of an impact.

 

[ashhutch1997]

And I just realized I've rated 3 different first 10 stages with Planche De Belles Filles as better than this one I have clearly and utterly abandoned my morals.

You've sold out mate

 

[jmdirt]

Best first week of the TdF this year!