Tour de France 2025 – All the route rumours ahead of the official presentation

The routes for the 2025 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will be presented in Paris on Tuesday, October 29, with race directors Christian Prudhomme and Marion Rousse set to reveal the details at the biggest races in pro cycling at the Palais des Congrès.   

Cyclingnews will have live coverage of the presentation on Tuesday, followed by full details of the race routes, rider reactions and analysis.

The 2025 men's Tour de France will be held between Saturday, July 5, starting in Lille, in northern France, and ending in Paris on Sunday, July 27. 

With no Olympic Games in 2025, the Tour de France Femmes returns to connect to the men's race, with nine days of racing between Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, August 3. 

Race organisers ASO try to keep the full details of the race routes under wraps until the official presentation but details always emerge. Yet again Thomas Vergouwen has stitched together the details that have been leaked via local media reports, hotel bookings and personal information, to create a stage list and map of the expected route on Velowire. Cycling routes editor La Flamme Rouge has collated similar details on both the men's and women's race routes and published them on social media. 

On Tuesday we will see the full details and see if the leaks and reports are true. 

This is what Cyclingnews expects for both race routes in 2025.

Tour de France Femmes 2025 route

What we know about the Tour de France Femmes route

ASO tries to keep a tight lid on the Tour de France route details prior to the official announcement, and an even tighter lid on the route details for the Tour de France Femmes.

But we know that each year, the Tour de France Femmes ventures into new territory, and new heights and elevates the bar with each new edition since its rebirth in 2022 won by Annemiek van Vleuten, which finished atop La Planche des belles Filles. The race went on to include Col du Tourmalet in 2023 with the overall title won by Demi Vollering, and then finished on L'Alpe d'Huez with the overall title earned by Kasia Niewiadoma in 2024. 

Before the route rumours even began to swirl, ASO had already announced that the 2025 race would cover nine days. The race was given special permission to exceed the UCI's eight-day limit on Women's WorldTour stage races, making it the longest yet of any edition of the new version of the women's Tour de France.

Brittany to host the first three stages

The Tour de France Femmes will once again overlap with the final two stages of the men's Tour de France, which hasn't happened since the 2022 edition. This time, the races will coincide by two stages with the the opening stage of the Tour de France Femmes and the two final stages of the Tour de France held on July 26 and 27.

Unlike the 2022 edition, the two events will not meet on the streets of Paris. ASO has also announced that the fourth edition of the Tour de France Femmes will begin in Brittany.

The opening stage will be in the heart of the Morbihan department. It will start in Vannes and finish in Plumelec, with the finish at the top of the famous Côte de Cadoudal. through it is set to finish uphill, it is still through to be a day for the sprinters to take a stage win and the event's first yellow jersey.

The second stage will be held in the neighbouring Finistère department. It will begin in Brest and finish in Quimper with a final loop in the town and a steep finish. It is potentially a day for a breakaway or could offer a re-shuffle of the early general classification.

Stage 3 is set to start in La Gacilly (Morbihan) but details on the finish are not yet released, although it is rumoured to be one for the sprinters.

"It is a first for an event that has chosen to honour a region with such deep cycling roots," ASO announced. The organisers also cited athletes from the Brittany area including Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Aude Biannic, Cédrine Kerbaol, and the continental team Arkéa-B&B Hotels.

"The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift helps to create vocations for little girls and boys. People can get out and about, and come and meet the sportswomen. I'm proud of it because Brittany is a region that I love, a magnificent region. It's been a dream of mine to set off from the Brittany Region, to the land of champions," said race director Marion Rousse.

"Wherever I've been in the world, I've seen Breton flags, which shows how proud we are to be Breton. Well, this time, it's France that will be coming to Brittany and meeting up once again with this magnificent region, with stages that will be spectacular from the outset, with quite a few difficulties. It's going to be a great party, and I'm already looking forward to 2025.”

Massif Central enroute to the Alps

The rest of the route has not been revealed but there have been multiple rumours that it could continue on from the Brittany area and head south-east toward the Massif Central and then reach Clermont Ferrand, according to rumours published in La Montagne, which was the start of the 2023 Tour de France Femmes. It is also rumoured that a stage could end in Ambert.

The route could then continue travelling southeast toward the Alps, where it the final two stages could pass through Chambéry and Maurienne, near Grenoble. There are a multitude of climbing options once they reach this department of France including the famed Col du Galibier.

It is also rumoured that the race could conclude in the area of the Châtel ski resort, which is part of the French-Swiss ski area in the Portes du Soleil region located in the Haute-Savoie department of southeastern France.

Châtel and the surrounding area often make an appearance in the Critérium du Dauphiné and the men's Tour de France and local climbs include Col de Joux Plane, Pas de Morgins, Col de Bassachaux, and Col de Corbier, according to Le Dauphine

Tour de France 2025 route rumours

The 2025 Tour de France will start in Lille-Nord de France, close to Belgium and Britain, with international cycling fans likely to flood to the fields of northern France to see the early racing. It is the fifth time the Tour de France has started in the Hauts-de-France region. 

The sprinters will have a chance to win stage 1 and take the first race leader's yellow jersey. The 185km opening stage starts and finishes in the centre of the Métropole Lille, via a loop to the northwest to the cobbled Côte de Cassel climb. The stage includes several other short climbs but is expected to end in a sprint on a perfectly flat one-kilometre finishing straight.

Stage 2 is over 209km from Lauwin-Planque south of Lille, to Boulogne-sur-Mer on the coast. This stage is hillier and more exposed to crosswinds from the Channel. It is a day for the puncheurs, with the  Saint-Étienne-au-Mont (900 metres at 11%) and the Côte d'Outreau (800 metres at 8.8%) coming in the final ten kilometres. Wout Van Aert won a similar stage to Calais in 2022 with a late solo attack.

Stage 3 is also in Lille-Nord de France, with the 172km stage from Valenciennes to Dunkerque to the coast. The stage again covers the Côte de Cassel, with the exposed flat roads of northern France perhaps seeing some summer winds and so possible echelons and attacks.  

The 2025 Grand Départ will not be for the faint-hearted or those who fear stressful racing and crashes.    

Week one: across northern France and south via the Massif Central 

The 2024 Tour de France avoided all of Northern France and Brittany but the heartlands of French cycling returns in 2025, with week one jumping across from Lille to Brittany via Caen, Saint-Malo and the Mûr-de-Bretagne climb, before heading south for the first rest day at the foot of the Pyrenees. 

With Bastille Day falling on a Monday, the French public gets to celebrate an extra day of racing. Fireworks are expected during a hilly day in the Massif Central and the Puy-de-Dome area.

The Tour leaves the Lille-Nord de France area on stage 4 from Amiens and is expected to finish in Rouen in Normandy, likely with another chance for the sprinters, as it travels west.   

The 2025 Tour is expected to include two time trials, with the first, over 20km or so, around Caen on stage 5. The city celebrates its millennium and has been chasing a stage for a decade. Stage 6 will reportedly finish in Vire Normandie, the birthplace of technical race director and route designer Thierry Gouvenou. It should be another rolling state for the puncheurs, with little time to enjoy the local cider or calvados.  

Stage 7 celebrates the local legend and the last French Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault, who will be 70 in November. The stage should finish atop the Mûr-de-Bretagne climb, where Mathieu van der Poel won alone in 2021 with a searing attack and took the yellow jersey. Stage 8 will finish in Laval to recall Louison Bobet's three Tour victories, while stage 9 to Châteauroux is a day for the sprinters. Mark Cavendish won there in 2008, 2011 and 2021 

Bastille Day is on Monday, July 14 and so the Tour races on and deep into the Massif Central. The first half of the 2025 Tour de France is packed with transfers between stages and the riders face another early wake-up and hours in their team buses for the hilly stage in the central Puy-de-Dome department. The stage could include the Croix Morand and Croix Saint-Robert, before the finish at Le Mont-Dore or even somewhere above the tiny village, perhaps at the ski resort.  

The first rest day comes after ten days of racing and another long transfer south to Toulouse. 

Week two: A mountain time trial high in the Pyrenees

The Pyrenees will dominate week two of the 2025 Tour de France, with three stages and then two others heading east to Carcassonne and Montpellier. 

Some doubts about the stages remain but stage 12 is expected to be a mountain finish at the Luchon-Superbagnères ski station. A finish at Hautacam could come the day before, with the most decisive Pyrenian stage likely to be a mountain time trial from Loudenvielle to the Altiport de Peyresourde runway near Peyragudes on stage 13. 

The stage could include a valley road to lengthen the stage distance to 13km, before climbing to the mountain top finish. Romain Bardet won here  in 2017 and Tadej Pogacar in 2022m, when he duelled with Jonas Vingegaard. In 2025 we can expect similar Grand Tour racing but in a mountain time trial.

The Tour leaves the high Pyrenees on stage 14, with a stage through the foothills to Carcassonne. Stage 15 from the historic town takes the Tour to Montpellier for the second test day on Monday July 21.  

Week three: Mont Ventoux, Col de la Loze and a return to Paris

The third week of the Tour begins with a bang on stage 16 with a Mont Ventoux mountain finish.   

The Géant de Provence is an iconic climb, with several different roads to Chalet Reynard and then up to the summit.  

The Tour last finished at the barren and spectacular summit in 2013 when Chris Froome won. He also stole the headlines in the climb in 2016, when strong winds forced ASO to move the finish to Chalet Reynard. The crowds packed the roadside, and blocked the motorbikes, causing Froome and others to crash. He then ran up the road, hoping for help and a bike change, desperate not to lose time and the race lead. In 2021 Wout Van Aert won the stage over Mont Ventoux as Pogacar and Vingegaard attacked each other in the fight for overall victory.  

In 2025, the stage should start in Montpelier and ride through Provence to the foot of the steep, sunburnt 20km climb. 

Stage 17 offers a chance for the sprinters or breakaways on the road to nearby Valence before two decisive mountain stages in the Alps.

Suggestions that the Tour would finish on L'Alpe d'Huez have gradually been disproven with the iconic hairpins more likely in the 2026 race. Stage 18 is expected to finish in Courchevel, after the climb of the Col du Glandon and the mighty Col de la Loze, which ends with a steep bike path to the summit.  

The climb was first raced in the Tour in 2020 and returned in 2023 when Pogačar famously cracked and admitted via radio: "I'm gone, I'm dead." This could be the Queen stage of the 2025 Tour. 

Stage 19 should be from Albertville to La Plagne, with the climb returning for a mountain top finish and a 17.1km, 7.6% climb to the line. This stage could crown the overall race leader, with two easier stages to race. 

Stage 20 is a rolling stage in the more northern Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region near the Swiss border and Lake Geneva. 

Despite the success of the 2024 Tour finish in Nice, the final stage of the 2025 race will return to Paris and a likely sprint on the Champs-Élysées. The winner of the yellow jersey will once again be crowned with the Arc du Triomphe in the background as the sun sets over Paris and on the Tour de France. 

2026 Grand Départ in Barcelona, Spain

The Grand Départ locations for future editions of the Tour de France are often revealed in Paris. ASO has already confirmed that the 2026 Tour de France will start in Barcelona, Spain, and the location of the 2027 Grand Depart could be revealed on Tuesday.     

Barcelona and the Catalonia region will host two stages in 2026, with a third stage then heading into France.  

ASO earns huge fees for Tour de France starts outside of France, with recent editions of the race starting in Copenhagen, Bilbao and Florence. Rotterdam and The Hague in the Netherlands are in the running to co-host the Grand Départ of the 2027 Tour de France, especially after the success of the first three stages of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes. Britain has also had talks with ASO about hosting the 2027 Grand Depart.