Alexander Kristoff is likely to have a successor as the last sprinter who powered to the first yellow jersey. The Norwegian took the win in Nice, 2020, and the 1st stage of the 2025 Tour de France offers a golden opportunity for the fast men. The opening stage includes less than 1,000 metres of climbing, with the last hill, Mont Noir, situated around 45 kilometres from the finish in Lille.
The 2nd stage looks enticing for the punchy riders in the peloton. The route is mostly rolling, but there are two sharp climbs inside the last 10 kilometres: the first is 900 metres at 10.8%, and the second 800 metres at 7.9%. The final kilometre serves up a gradient of nearly 5%.
With just 648 metres of elevation, stage 3 is the flattest of the first three. The only obstacle is hardly worth mentioning: 2.3 kilometres at 4.5%, and it’s located far from the finish line.
2025 Tour de France Route Announcement & Rumours
The rest of the 2025 Tour de France route will be revealed on 29 October.
Nothing has been confirmed yet, but there are rumours circulating that stage 4 will head to Le Havre, stage 5 will be a team time trial starting and finishing in Caen, and stage 6 will end in Saint Malo. A finish at the steep Mûr de Bretagne is likely to return after Mathieu van der Poel’s brave raid for yellow in 2021.
Rumour has it that the Tour will tackle the Pyrenees in the second week before heading through the Languedoc and Ardèche towards the Alps. Stages 15, 16, and 17 are expected to take place in the mountain range, followed by a – possibly mountainous – individual time trial. One of the stages in line could see a mountain top finish in Alpe d’Huez, while the unpaved Colle delle Finestre has also been mentioned.
Stage 20 is rumoured to be a stage for climbers in the Vosges Mountains, with the Tour wrapping up on Sunday 27 July on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Tour de France 2025: routes, profiles, videos
Click on the images to zoom
