Refresh
So, no time trialling, even with the rise to 9 levels. The primary two are punchy levels in Brittany, the following two are dash alternatives, and the subsequent two take us by way of the medium mountains of the Massif Central. The ultimate three levels are within the Alps, the place the GC will actually be determined. The penultimate stage is probably the most clearly essential day of racing, with main elevation achieve and the summit end on the Col de la Madeleine.
Stage 9 is the finale and encompasses a end in Chatel. They go over the fearsome and well-known Col de Joux Aircraft mid-stage, earlier than the Col de Corbier after which a extra light incline to the end in Chatel.
Stage 8 is our first summit end, and it is at Sain Francois Longchamp, on the Col de la Madeleine at 2000 metres of altitute. 3490 metres of elevation achieve!
Stage 7 takes us into the Alps. It options much less elevation achieve than stage 6 total however the late climb of the Col du Granier is the toughest of the race thus far. One other downhill end, this time into Chambery.
Stage 6 options 2350 metres of elevation. 5 climbs, two early testers then three harder ones within the Massif Central. The climbing intensifies as does the GC motion.
Stage 5 sees the route grow to be hillier, particularly because the stage goes on. Three climbs, the final one topping out 7km from the road.
This is the map, as we await the information on the ultimate 5 levels.
Stage 4 is one other dash stage, heading south east from Saumur to Poitiers.
Stage 3 heads from La Gacilly over to Angers. After two levels for the puncheurs, Rousse says, that is one for the pure sprinters. That completes the Grand Depart in Brittany.
Stage 2 is one other punchy one from Brest to Quimper, a day of fixed undulations and now we have one other ending circuit with an uphill end. Peter Sagan received right here when the lads’s race final visited.
Stage 1 is confirmed for that end on a circuit with the Côte de Cadoudal in Plumelec – one for the puncheurs.
The snaking dot makes its method diagonally down by way of France in the direction of the Alps, the place the race will end on the ski resort of Chatel.
The primary two levels are already recognized. The primary begins in Vannes and finishes in Plumelec, with the end on the high of the well-known Côte de Cadoudal. The second stage can be held within the neighbouring Finistère division. It’s going to start in Brest and end in Quimper with a last loop within the city and a steep end.
A regional official for Brittany is invited onto the stage however we’re now about to see the route for the Tour de France Femmes!
It is a bit of informal from Magnus Cort however ASO can have few complaints when their compere is sporting white trainers with a three-piece go well with.
Some pictures are beginning to roll in from our companies
The 2025 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will happen over 9 levels – up from eight and over the UCI restrict – and can begin in Brittany, however we already knew each of these issues. A promo video for Brittany now rolls.
Christian Prudhomme and Marion Rousse hit the stage
It is a cracking montage, as we have come to anticipate. We get an exciting flashback to all of the stage, together with that second when Vollering crashed and – because the commentary factors out – “not one of the SD Worx riders have come again to attend!” It ends with that thrilling battle on Alpe d’Huez and the contrasting feelings of Niewiadoma and Vollering past the road. It’s going to be on YouTube later – nicely price a watch.
Company partnerships, charity partnerships, blah blah blah… however now it appears to be like like now we have our first montage, and it is the 2024 Tour de France Femmes.
ASO president Jean-Etienne Amaury comes onto the stage now. No headlines will come of this, however he’ll thank some folks and pay tribute to some others. Romain Bardet will get a nod after driving his last Tour, Biniam Girmay is lauded for his groundbreaking achievements, and Mark Cavendish is hailed for his history-making.
Meaning we do not have both the Tour de France champion, Tadej Pogacar, or the Tour de France Femmes champion, Kasia Niewiadoma, in attendance. Likewise, no latest winners and prime contenders similar to Jonas Vingegaard and Demi Vollering or marquee stars similar to Remco Evenepoel, Lotte Kopecky…
Cavendish is requested about subsequent 12 months, amid some confusion over the standing of his impending retirement.
“It has been nice. Issues have not modified that a lot, I have been driving my bike, spending time with my children, I simply have not been shouting in races anymore. I have been travelling, been busy, been on vacation – it was the primary time I may actually take pleasure in a vacation,” Cavendish says.
And now for one final rider… it is Mark Cavendish. He will not be racing the Tour in 2025 however he’s clearly one of many all-time stars of the Tour’s historical past, his report thirty fifth stage win being one of many greatest storylines of this 12 months’s Tour.
Now we have are first riders stopped for interview…
Anthony Turgis is subsequent and the compere tries and fails to get the group to shout his surname… Kevin Vauquelin is subsequent up.
Dylan Groenewegen is right here, and now Jasper Philipsen, the Tour’s most profitable sprinter of latest years.
Magnus Cort is right here in a shirt that feels a bit of too informal. And now his teammate Alexander Krstoff, who’s sporting an open shacket. Requirements are slipping.
Sam Bennett is right here in full AG2R faculty uniform.
Sturdy applause for retiring Frenchwoman Audrey Cordon-Ragot, and up-and-coming Frenchman Romain Gregoire. Valentin Madouas, Lenny Martinez, and Evita Muzic get large hype too however few worldwide stars as of but…
We at the moment are launched to the professional riders who’re current immediately. They’re all invited to stroll throughout the stage. Rumours are that it isn’t precisely probably the most star-studded attendance this 12 months….
Right here we go
This is a glimpse contained in the Palais
The route is at all times stored below wraps till the presentation however whereas ASO are efficient in avoiding full-scale leaks, they’re perennially powerless to forestall a fairly correct define of the routes rising beforehand. That is as a result of native French mayors love letting slip that their city might or will not be internet hosting a stage end, whereas lodge reservation patterns are utilized by the keenest of sleuths to piece collectively a rolling map of the Tour caravan rolling by way of the nation. This is the way it’s wanting thus far…
The post-presentation scramble is at all times probably the most entertaining a part of the day. What does this all imply? Who does it favour? What kind of a Tour will we get?
The presentation kicks off at 11am CET, so greater than half an hour away. Even then, you may anticipate bland speeches from ASO’s high brass, montages of the 2024 races which do really increase the heart beat, then extra bland stuff from native officers of the areas internet hosting the Grand Departs, earlier than we begin the run-through of every stage for each races.
The season could also be over however immediately now we have maybe the largest day of non-racing motion of the biking calendar. Complete season plans are constructed across the info we’re about to obtain, the narratives that can outline subsequent 12 months’s racing begin to take form right here, and most significantly we will image the mountains that can be climbed subsequent summer season, which is able to maintain us by way of the lengthy chilly winter of cyclo-cross. That is all matched by a way of grandeur to the event, with this being offered inside a packed-out Palais des Congres in central Paris. Riders can be right here in ill-fitting fits, staff bosses, sponsors, and dignitaries will all be current and proper, with all eyes on the race administrators, Christian Prudhomme and Marion Rousse.
Good day and welcome to our stay protection of the 2025 Tour de France and 2025 Tour de France Femmes route presentation.
