Tour de France 2025 route rumours and announcements

[Monsi]

Nice to know, I'm not the only one thinking this, Thijs Zonneveld,

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...te-is-a-direct-reaction-to-pogacars-dominance

I don’t know about that. I mean
1) The 2025 route was probably more or less decided before Pogacar won the 2024 Tour.
2) If 2024 Pogacar (or a slightly improved Pogi) shows up at the 2025 Tour, it probably won’t matter how hard the route is. He really worked on minimizing his weaknesses (high kilojoule mountain stages, hot temperatures, long climbs) that he might get the job done anyway. That said, the route is as good as it gets for Vingegaard and I expect a closer battle between the two next year.

 

[Bolder]

The route is quite good, IMO. Yes, the second/third weeks are not creative, but they feature plenty of hard, traditional climbs in the Pyrenees and Alps. And while the first week doesn't necessarily have anything crazy, it does have Mur de Bretagne, which all but guarantees to sort out a few of the GC riders while allowing puncheurs a chance to shine.

Really, though, I don't care so much about the route specifics. I just want to see a GC battle that goes into the third week. And I think having Ventoux, La Plagne and Loze should help that a bit.

Agree with @Monsi -- Although we all know that if Pog is on this year's form and VIngegaard isn't 100 pct it will be over in the Pyrenees.

Edit to add: MTFs are often a result of a community paying for the finish to promote their ski station. Hard to avoid.

 

[OlavEH]

I have to say I like the inclusion of Superbagneres and La Plagne after some decades a lot. I even like the stages they are part of. Also making good use of the terrain in Normandy for the first time in history (or so it seems) is a good point.

Superbagneres is nice, but would be preferable coming from east and after Port de Bales.

La Plagne is just "meh" when it is one of 5 big MTFs next year. 6 if you include the MTT. The stage would be better if you had like only Superbagneres and Mont Ventoux in addition of big MTFs.

What the Tour is missing most of all are some proper medium mountain stages. Something like this should there be 1 or 2 of in each version of the Tour.

 

[Escarabajo]

Superbagneres is nice, but would be preferable coming from east and after Port de Bales.

La Plagne is just "meh" when it is one of 5 big MTFs next year. 6 if you include the MTT. The stage would be better if you had like only Superbagneres and Mont Ventoux in addition of big MTFs.

What the Tour is missing most of all are some proper medium mountain stages. Something like this should there be 1 or 2 of in each version of the Tour.

Stage 10 looks crazy good if you ask me:

La Flamme Rouge - Information

www.la-flamme-rouge.eu

 

[OlavEH]

Stage 10 looks crazy good if you ask me:

La Flamme Rouge - Information

I do like the stage, but I don't think the climbs before the last climb is tough/steep enough to make a big difference. An more ideal medium mountain stage has a steeper climb a bit further from the stage finish.

 

[Froome]

I give 6/10.

I am disappointed by the fact they will not do La loze by the 2023 or 2020 version.

The first 10 days are not that bad, but i think the route is missing at least 1/2 unipuerto stages to start shaking up things in those first 10 days, but i get, it’s complicated starting from north.

 

[RedheadDane]

From a racing standpoint it makes very little difference. If you are looking at it purely as the route design affects your experience of being entertained by watching, that's on you, not the race organization.

Maybe the problem lies in thinking you can only be entertained by certain types of routes, instead of just finding the enjoyment in all routes. And let's be honest with each other; come July next year, we'll all be watching as much as we possibly can.

My opinion on the route? Too far ahead for me to bother study it closer. From what I understand they'll (probably) be finishing in Paris, there's an MTT, and Mount Ventoux, but not an MTT up Mount Ventoux, and they'll start somewhere in Bretagne.
Not necessarily in that order.

 

[Forever The Best]

What a mediocre route. On a second thought that may be too much praise to this blandness.

 

[Cookster15]

Vingegaard will give us a good fight. The problem for Vingegaard is how good the first week looks to Pogacar. A flat TT early in the race and punchy stages plays in Pogacar's hands.

Punchy stages agree but not the flat ITT where Vingegaard has beaten Pogacar before even if that was late in the Tour. And of course there is Remco who I think most would pick to beat them both in a flat TT early in the Tour.

 

[OlavEH]

Ok, here's my opinion. I think the route is perfectly fine, as it is every year. The people pedalling the bikes make it a race, not the route design.

A certain type of route profiles almost always delievers. Others do certainly not. Although the difference the latest years is not as noticeable as earlier because of historically offensive riders lik Pog ang Vinge.

 

[YavorD]

Ok, here's my opinion. I think the route is perfectly fine, as it is every year. The people pedalling the bikes make it a race, not the route design.[[content deleted]]

Really, so you think we'd have an all time great stages on stage 11 in 2022 and Giro stage 18 if organisers put some shallow climbs before or made an unipuerto stage? Or that stage 11 would be probably the best of the whole Tour this year had it finished on Puy Mary?
Of course not. Those stages were great because they had good design not just because riders made them great.

And that's the whole point of criticising that route. Not a single mountain stage invites for early action and every stage screams that the final climb is the best place to attack. Now the riders make the race but if you design your race so that the last climb should see all the meaningful action you're not helping the riders to make the race great. Especially if you don't design a first part of the race that creates a real time gaps, forcing riders to actually "make the race" early.

 

[zlev11]

We have profiles of about 1/4 of the stages. Making your mind up now is just silly.

that's not true, the finales of all the hilly stages have been released, it's only the flat stages that do not have any profiles but even then it's not too difficult to tell what those stages are going to be like. my original gripe was with the mountain stages, anyway. if you go back and read that post, the issue for me is that this route could've been so much better with just a few changes that were easily available. on top of that, someone on twitter has profiled out all 21 stages here:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1851399333356466652

View: https://x.com/laflammerouge16/status/1851399333356466652

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Not liking (everything about) the route or pretty much being satisfied with it no matter what are both perfectly fair opinions to have, but spending time on complaining about the fact that people have different opinions rather than discussing the opinions themselves, or the design of route, seems like a waste to me.

Pinky toe emoji.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

[[content deleted]]

Honestly, when this kind of *** sees zero repercussions (and it's not just this thread or even just this poster) while most of the people at the heart of the community have served at least one ban this year, I'm not sure what the point of moderation on here is even supposed to be.

 

[Cookster15]

These route speculation threads can be frustrating.

Can someone please repost the current 2025 Tour de France route as it stands? Where can I review every stage? The Twitter post above by zlev11 takes me nowhere.

 

[YavorD]

These route speculation threads can be frustrating.

Can someone please repost the current 2025 Tour de France route as it stands? Where can I review every stage? The Twitter post above by zlev11 takes me nowhere.

I saw them in "Lukas' cycling blog" on Facebook, the source being La Flamme rouge.
I don't know how to post image in here and I don't think it's possible through phone anyway, but have a look there if you can.

 

[E_F_]

These route speculation threads can be frustrating.

Can someone please repost the current 2025 Tour de France route as it stands? Where can I review every stage? The Twitter post above by zlev11 takes me nowhere.

The Inner Ring | 2025 Tour de France Route

inrng.com

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 10

Stage 12

Stage 13

Stage 14

Stage 18

Stage 19

 

[RedheadDane]

I don't know how to post image in here and I don't think it's possible through phone anyway, but have a look there if you can.

I think it was established a while back that if you don't know how to post pictures, you have to make a text-based breakdown of the route.

 

[YavorD]

I think it was established a while back that if you don't know how to post pictures, you have to make a text-based breakdown of the route.

I should ask @tobydawq for a private lesson over that then? 😅

 

[Peyroteo94]

The Inner Ring | 2025 Tour de France Route

inrng.com

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 10

Stage 12

Stage 13

Stage 14

Stage 18

Stage 19

Peyragudes is the type of climb Pogacar is unbeatable when he is in peak shape. He already said he loves steep climbs around 20 minutes.

 

[rghysens]

Superbagneres is nice, but would be preferable coming from east and after Port de Bales.

La Plagne is just "meh" when it is one of 5 big MTFs next year. 6 if you include the MTT. The stage would be better if you had like only Superbagneres and Mont Ventoux in addition of big MTFs.

What the Tour is missing most of all are some proper medium mountain stages. Something like this should there be 1 or 2 of in each version of the Tour.

Superbagnères is hard enough to not attack on Port de Balès, if that was included. Maybe it would be different if they finished on Hospice de France or so. I just like the historical reference of the stage aso came up with. And I agree with you on La Plagne, if it is the 5th mtf of the race, but I was talking about the stage on itself.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Stage 10 looks crazy good if you ask me:

La Flamme Rouge - Information

www.la-flamme-rouge.eu

I completely forgot to mention this precious in my previous post here!
In fact THE stage I've put the biggest tick in the calendar at.

Not so much due the (ever grateful simple-on-paper) profile, but since I know the terrain, visited it several times during the 80ies and 90ies These roads in the heart of the Auvergne are truly treacherous - no time to rest or extra breath takes.

With just 163 km stage length in concentrated attack-terrain from start to finish, IMO you have to be there from the gun.

It may well be that the stage has the tiny risk of becoming "boring" if the person with the greatest desire to do bike riding suddenly feels for cycling that day.

But I don't think he'll get off that easily.

It is Bastille Day after all.

So I'm mostly leaning towards a true celebratory firework of hopeful/hopeless Frenchmen added a 3rd of the peleton.

IN ADDITON, the spice as being an old motorsports fan too, to enjoy the riders on the first part of the stage climbing the old classic part of the Charade track and the hairy descent that leads directly to a convoluted passage up to Berzet. My first trip to this location was as a teenager, the family took a picnic with breathraking views down over Clermont-Ferrand (edit: especially I remember the huge impression the extent of the Michelin tire factories just outfilled the landscapes of this relatively large regional capital) and then Puy-de-Dôme slanting behind, when turning the neck.

And it haunts me to this day that I and my family must've literally stood just next to the old Circuit de Charade slopes - in the penultimate year that it was in operation - completely without my knowledge back then. No images, other than those on the retina.

So stage 10 is a pure 'must watch' here.

 

[pman]

Speaking of Stage 10- what’s the town like? Looks like a great stage to go to.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Speaking of Stage 10- what’s the town like? Looks like a great stage to go to.

"The town"?
You refer to the heart of Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand?
The marked place Place de Jaude, the Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral, Basilique Notre-Dame-du-Port, Musée d'Art Roger Quilliot, a volcanological museum, Musée de l'Art et de l'Industrie .....and then, ofcourse, L'Aventure Michelin.

And, of course, a good bike ride upway to Puy-de-Dôme in the vicinity and finishing the day with testing the limits on 4 wheels on the modern layout of Circuit de Charade.
Then you have filled your day.

Well, apart from you've probably worked up an appetite for the +25 restaurants in the city, listed in the Michelin guide laying the foundation for the good habit of planning the route after the food.
Here you don't have to drive that far. You're already there

 

[E_F_]

The ASM flags will be out in full force, that's for sure.