The Pyrenees will return to play a huge role in the Tour de France next summer, with a triple whammy of mountain top finishes expected to be confirmed during Tuesday's official presentation.
In recent years the Tour de France has often been decided in the Alps or the Vosges, as the Tour de France tried to visit all five mountain ranges of mainland France. In 2025, the three-week race is expected to follow an anticlockwise direction and climb the Pyrenees before the Alps.
Three back to back stages and the return of a mountain time trial mean the Pyrenees will likely play a huge role in deciding who goes on to win the yellow jersey.
French route expert Thomas Vergouwen has painstakingly gathered the details of the 2025 Tour route 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, while cycling routes editor La Flamme Rouge has collated similar details and published them on social media.
Both reported that the Pyrenees would host three stages but there was confusion about their order and some of the start and finish locations. A report in the local newspaper La Dépêche appears to have answered the questions before full details are known on Tuesday morning in Paris.
Cyclingnews will have live coverage of the presentation of both the men's Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift 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.
The men will head west to Normandy and Brittany after the start in Lille then cut through the Massif Central for a first rest day in Toulouse. Stage 11 is expected to loop around the city before the riders climb high into the Pyrenees.
Stage 12 on Thursday July 17 is expected to start in Auch, to the west of Toulouse and finish at Hautacam.
The 13.4km climb has an average gradient of 7.7%. It has been used six times in the Tour de France, most famously in 1996, when an EPO-fueled Bjarne Riis powered away to win in the yellow jersey. Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar clashed on the same climb in 2022, with the Dane dropping his rival on the way to his first Tour victory.
Stage 13 will also be in the Pyrenees, with the return of a mountain time trial.
The stage could be just 13km long but will hurt as it climbs from the valley town of Loudenvielle up to the Peyragudes airport landing strip at the ski station below the Col de Peyresourde.
The Alpine time trial in 2023 was hilly but also included a descent and valley section. This stage is likely to be a true mountain time trial, with riders opting for lightweight road bikes rather than aerodynamic time trial bikes The effort will be intense and perhaps create a significant shake-up in the overall classification.
The third consecutive mountain top finish in the Pyrenees in 2025 will be on stage 14 to Luchon Superbagnères.
Just hours before the presentation, L'Equipe, which is owned by the same company that organises the Tour de France, confirmed the return Luchon Superbagnères. The stage will climb 4,950 metres and include the Col du Tourmalet (19 km at 7.4%), Col d'Aspin (5 km at 7.6%), Peyresourde (7.1 km at 7.8%) and the climb to the finish at Luchon Superbagnères (12.4 km at 7.4%).
The Luchon Superbagnères climb was once famous in the Tour, with pure climbers like Imerio Massignan, Federico Bahamontes and Robert Millar winning there. In 1986 Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault fought for the yellow jersey despite being teammates at La Vie Claire. The American cracked his French rivals to set-up overall victory in Paris.
The Luchon Superbagnères climb has not been used since 1989 but new bridges and a new ski lift now make the logistics far easier for the trucks and vehicles used to organise and broadcast the Tour.
After the triple whammy of Pyrenean mountain stages, the 2025 Tour de France will head east via Carcassonne, Montpellier and Mont Ventoux, before the final stages in the Alps and then a traditional finish in Paris on the Champs Elysees.
We will know all the details of the 2025 Tour de France routes on Tuesday.
