Unveiled from 12:30 p.m. at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, after that of the Tour de France women, the route of the Grande Boucle will return to a certain normality after a 2024 edition turned upside down by the holding of the Olympic Games in Paris which had led the organizers to 'Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) from Florence, Italy, to Nice, a great first.
Already, as announced last winter, the start of the 112th edition will be given on July 5 in France, in Lille more precisely, which had not happened since 2021 before three foreign cities, Copenhagen, Bilbao and Florence, launch the great summer mass.
The arrival, on July 27, will be judged on the Champs-Elysées to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first terminus on the “most beautiful avenue in the world”.
And between the two?
We already know that the first three stages will take place in the North where they will skillfully bypass the cobbled sectors of Paris-Roubaix for a smoother start than in recent years.
“It will be the first time in half a dozen years that a sprinter will be able to seize the first yellow jersey,” underlines the director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme.
The first stage, a 185 km loop around Lille, indeed represents a dream opportunity for straight line specialists. It will be followed by a stage promised to the punchers between Lauwin-Planque and Boulogne-sur-Mer, before a new chapter dedicated to the sprinters between Valenciennes and Dunkirk.
Pogacar « impatient »
The fourth stage will start from Amiens, in the Somme, for a destination which will be revealed on Tuesday in front of thousands of guests including some runners like Julian Alaphilippe, Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen.
But neither Tadej Pogacar nor Jonas Vingegaard, the two ogres who have dominated the last five editions, will be in the room.
Pogacar, winner of his third Tour last summer, however, made it known that he was “impatiently” waiting to discover the 2025 course.
The triumphant announcements of certain local elected officials, the hotel reservations and the observations of witnesses who were able to meet Tour officials during their scouting already make it possible to sketch the broad outlines.
After the North, the Grande Boucle should plunge towards Normandy – Caen celebrates its millennium in 2025 and ASO loves this kind of anniversaries – then Brittany with a possible return to Mûr-de-Bretagne, four years after the victory of Mathieu van der Poel in 2021.
A first time trial could quickly spice up the proceedings.
Then head to Puy-de-Dôme for a first foray into the mountains, before descending to the southwest and attacking the Pyrenees. The latter look to be particularly rewarding in 2025 with possibly three summit finishes, one of which will be during an uphill time trial.
After a quick crossing from west to east along the Mediterranean, it is rumored that Mont-Ventoux will be back on the menu as an aperitif in the Alps.
The dreaded Col de la Loze, on the way to becoming a classic, could be one of the great justices of the peace of this 112th edition.
France
