Tour de France 2025 route rumours and announcements

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Thésy of Dauphiné '23 fame:

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The worst first half of a GT in recent years, I think. They say this year was backloaded but at least there was Galibier stage plus some good action on gravel. Here, except a couple of uphill sprints to the line and the TT, there will be no GC action until stage 12.
I think it's much better than feared.

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Superbagnères is after the MTT, so better pacing than initially thought.
 
Quick thoughts after looking at it at a glance:

- Better than what they were showing in La Flamme Rouge a week ago.
- Superbagneres a repeat of that Bernard Hinault escapade that finally costed him the 1986 Tour de France. It looks better than I expected.
- La Plagne stage better than expected.
- Medium stages don't look that promising but I have to take a closer look at the details.

I am so happy that they are finally returning to those infamous climbs and stages from 1986: Granon, Superbagneres, Puy de Dome.
 
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It’s better than feared now some of the early stage run-ins have been revealed but it still suffers a likelihood of a crash fest as no early shuffling of the GC and the pacing is atrocious with such appalling weekend stages but we knew that already from the heavy rumours.

I like the Bastille Day stage and Stage 4 could have an aggressive finish with splits if the roads are narrow and twisting.
 
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So, is the route more mid or more meh?

I rate it worse than 2012.
With 110 kilometres of TT Remco could/would have decent enough lead to prompt Pogacar and Vingegaard to attack from far. And if they are on a close level, any tactical shenanigans between the 2 would give us a chance for a 3 man battle.

I give it a 4 if I'm optimistic. I have to admit that week one is much better than I feared.
 
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The first week is perhaps better than what I initially feared, but still the mountain stages and the total route seems really uninspiring. Hautacam, Peyragudes MTT, Ventoux, easy side of Loze, La Plagne is just lazy stage and route design. I would really liked to have seen they could up with something more original for at least one or two mountain stages each version. Now it never happens.
 
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So, is the route more mid or more meh?
Fairly standard ASO fare of the last few years tbh. The flat to rolling stages are pretty decent for what they are, the mountain stages are lazy and uninspiring, with the whole thing seemingly tailored for Youtube Cycling, so you can catch more or less everything you need to see in the last 45m of any given stage. There is, however, not a great deal to be genuinely angry at, the only complete abortion is the pacing leading to abysmal weekend stages, where the best and most decisive weekend stage looks likely to be the one to Boulogne-sur-Mer, but there's no stage that really captures the imagination and fills you with any level of anticipation for any reason other than the prestige inherent from being the Tour de France.
 
You could put 200km of TT in the first week and Evenepoel wouldn't win enough time to become a threat.

Well, if Evenepoel progresses between 24,5 and 25,5 as much as Pogacar and Vingegaard did he may as well become a threat.
With 33 only kilometres Pogacar and Vingegaard can possibly win more time on Peyragudes and hold their hands for the other mountain stages if they want.