Tour de France 2025: route, village, caravan… Everything you need to know about the start of the 12th stage in Auch

After burning for the Olympic Flame in 2024, Auch is preparing to thrill for the Tour de France this year. The capital of Gers will in fact serve as the setting for the departure of the 12^e Auch-Hautacam stage (181 km), on July 17, as was confirmed during the official presentation of the event on October 29 in Paris.

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General Commissioner at Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) and responsible for the “start” stages and the team presentation ceremony on the Grande Boucle, Yannick Goasduff traveled to the Gers at the start of the week to meet local communities and authorities in order to validate the organization of the start and the Gers part of the stage, from Auch to Villecomtal-sur-Arros. He reveals its main characteristics to us.

24 hours of activity

The city of Auch will live to the rhythm of the Tour de France from the day before the start, scheduled for Thursday July 17. The first set-ups will begin on Wednesday evening, “with departure logistical resources which will arrive from Toulouse after the dismantling of the Toulouse-Toulouse stage”, indicates Yannick Goasduff. “The technical means will arrive for implementation in the evening and night, increasing between 6 and 8 p.m. until midnight and one a.m., with logistical implementations,” specifies the Tour departure boss.

The upper town in the spotlight

As expected, the upper town will be the nerve center of the departure of the 12^e stage. The famous “podium stage” where the activities and the presentation of the 22 teams will take place will be installed at the foot of Sainte-Marie Cathedral. The festivities will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will continue until the runners' fictitious departure, scheduled for 1 p.m. at the foot of Auch town hall. After the presentation of the teams, scheduled from 12 p.m., the runners will be able to go to the Place de la Libération via a barrier corridor installed from the cathedral square. The public will be able to occupy all the space around the barriers to admire them.

The village on the alleys of Etigny

Exclusively reserved for guests and accredited people, the departure village will be set up on the Allées d'Etigny. The team buses will park in a space which will extend from Boulevard Roquelaure (from the Health Insurance building) to the lower part of the old fairground square, the upper part being considered too steep. A set of barriers will be installed to allow the public to see the buses from the corner of Boulevard Roquelaure and Rue de Châteaudun to Place de la Libération.

A passage at the foot of the monumental staircase

The roads affected by the passage of the caravan and the runners will be closed to traffic from 10 a.m. on the day of departure. The caravan will leave the Endoumingue plain (its base camp) to reach the upper town via rue du 8 mai and the place de l'ancien foirail, then will follow the route of the stage. The fictitious start will be given at 1 p.m. in front of the town hall. The peloton will take the following route: rue d'Etigny, rue de Metz, boulevard Sadi Carnot, pont du Prieuré, avenue Hoche, rue Rouget de Lisle, rue Eugène Sue, rue Augusta, avenue Pierre de Montesquiou, rue du Général de Gaulle, avenue des Pyrénées and route de Tarbes . The runners will thus pass at the foot of the monumental staircase, a wish of Mayor Christian Laprébende.

Once on the road to Tarbes, they will drive on the N21 to Villecomtal-sur-Arros, passing through Mirande and Miélan, before switching to the Hautes-Pyrénées to reach Hautacam. The real start of the stage will be given after the Sousson activity zone, in Pavie.