The 2025 Tour de France returns to home roads from start to finish for the first time since 2020, with a route designed to test every characteristic a GC contender might possess. From the flatlands of the north to the brutal Alpine ascents of the final week, this year’s 112th edition favours climbers more than ever. While the first 10 stages feature flatter and hillier terrain that should offer sprinters and puncheurs their chances, it’s the second half where the real damage will be done.
Only 44 kilometres of individual time trialling feature on the route, and 11km of that is a summit effort to Peyragudes. There’s no team time trial, and no cross-border detours – just five mountain-top finishes across France’s toughest terrain. The Pyrenees serve up a deadly back-to-back in the middle week, while the final Alpine block hits historic heights, both figuratively and literally. For riders aiming to win in Paris on 27th July, these are the climbs that will determine whether yellow is within reach or slips away for good.
Hautacam (Stage 12)
17th July
13.6km at 7.8%
The Hautacam returns to the Tour after its last outing in 2022, when Jonas Vingegaard struck a fatal blow to Tadej Pogačar’s yellow jersey hopes. Back then, it was Wout van Aert setting the tempo before Vingegaard danced away in the mist to claim the win and the GC lead for good. In 2014, it was Vincenzo Nibali who crushed the opposition to seal his Tour title, and in 1996, Bjarne Riis dropped everyone – including Miguel Indurain – in one of the Tour’s most symbolic power shifts.
This year it’s the first true summit finish of the race and comes after several warm-up climbs that should sap legs and tease out the form guide. It’s not the longest of climbs at 13.6km, but the sustained gradients – averaging 7.8% and maxing out around 11% – make it a hard effort with very little rhythm. If the GC remains tight after the opening 11 stages, Hautacam is likely where we’ll see the first major time gaps between the true contenders.
Peyragudes (Stage 13)
18th July
8km at 7.9%
One of the route’s most significant features is the return of the mountain time trial, something not seen in the Tour since 2004. It comes the day after Hautacam, ensuring no time to hide recovery woes. Riders will be sent one by one up Peyragudes, an 8km climb averaging 7.9%, but with several punchy sections and an infamous final kicker that hits gradients well over 13%.
Peyragudes has featured multiple times in recent Tours. Pogačar won here in 2022, though only Brandon McNulty could hold his wheel. In 2017, Fabio Aru distanced Chris Froome in a finish that shook up the GC. That final ramp to the altiport runway is narrow, steep and visually dramatic – a spectacular but punishing test of rider power and pacing.
This year, it becomes the first Tour de France stage to feature an individual mountain time trial since Megève in 2016. With GC riders forced to climb without team support, it’s a day that could see Pogačar and Evenepoel thrive – or unravel.
Mont Ventoux (Stage 16)
22nd July
15.7km at 8.8%
After the final rest day, the Tour heads into arguably its most iconic challenge: Mont Ventoux from Bédoin. At 15.7km and 8.8% average, the stats are intimidating, but the reality is worse. The climb begins innocently enough but enters the forest after Saint-Estève, where it ramps up to a relentless 9-10% and stays there almost all the way to Chalet Reynard. From there, the road opens onto the white, exposed lunar landscape that gives the mountain its nickname – “The Giant of Provence.”
It’s a climb woven into Tour folklore. In 1967, Tom Simpson died here from exhaustion, amphetamines and heat. In 1970, even Eddy Merckx needed oxygen after winning at the summit. In modern memory, Froome famously ran up it in 2016 after a crash, and in 2021, the Tour tackled it twice in one stage, with Wout van Aert emerging victorious.
This time, the classic Bédoin side returns and it ends at the top, not down in Malaucène. That means full damage. If conditions are hot or the Mistral wind howls, even the favourites could be broken. On Stage 16, with fatigue mounting, it’s the perfect ambush spot.
Col de la Loze (Stage 18)
24th July
26.4km at 6.5%
This is the Queen Stage of the 2025 Tour and the highest point of the race, earning the Souvenir Henri Desgrange. The Col de la Loze sits at 2,304m and will close Stage 18, by which time any surviving GC battles will come to a head. The climb is as long as it is erratic – 26.4km at 6.5% doesn’t sound brutal, but that average hides the insanity of the final kilometres.
The lower half climbs steadily from Brides-les-Bains through Méribel, before the road turns into a bike-only strip carved out for the Tour in 2020. From here, gradients spike wildly – 10%, 15%, even 20% – with technical switchbacks, false flats and no room to settle. It’s on these slopes that Pogačar cracked in 2023, as Vingegaard flew away to win the stage and extend his overall lead.
Expect something similar this year. Even if the yellow jersey isn’t definitively claimed here, it could be lost for good.
La Plagne (Stage 19)
25th July
19.1km at 7.2%
A return to La Plagne after more than two decades, but with a twist. This is no ordinary summit finish. The final 1.5km diverts up the narrow Olympic bobsleigh track from La Roche, an experimental new feature only just wide enough for a rider and a moto. Before that, the climb itself is punishing – 19.1km at 7.2%, rising steadily through ski stations and exposed alpine roads.
Laurent Fignon famously won here in 1984 and 1987, and it was the scene of one of Miguel Indurain’s most dominant rides in 1995. This year’s finish is different, tighter, and potentially decisive for stage position due to the restricted width of the final access road.
If there’s still anything to fight for in GC terms, positioning going into the bobsleigh section will be everything. The strongest rider may not win if they’re caught behind, and that may be the sting in the tail the 2025 Tour has saved for its final mountain test.
