Tour de France

The Tour de France 2025 is underway, beginning on 5 July and marks the 112th edition of cycling's flagship race. Raced entirely in France for the first time in five years, this really is a 'Tour de France'. The 21-stage race began in Lille in the north before heading west through Normandy and Brittany and taking an anti-clockwise route to the far south, before heading back to its traditional finish line in Paris via the Alps and Jura mountains.

One for the climbers - as all modern Tours are - the 2025 Tour de France route incorporates five summit finishes and spans four mountain ranges - the Alps, Massif Central, Jura and Pyrenees. The riders will also endure a brutal mountainous time trial to the Peyragudes altiport as part of a total of 44km against the clock, and a hilly opening week in northern France, with the first summit finish coming 10 days in on Bastille Day

High points (literally) include the race's highest, Col de la Loze, which is tackled from the eastern approach for the first time, and Hautacam, two climbs which Jonas Vingegaard will relish. Mont Ventoux, the Puy de Sancy, Superbagnères and the Col du Tourmalet all feature, with the GC battle likely to be decided on the uppermost slopes in the second and third week of racing.

And after last year's Olympics-induced absence from Paris and final-day time trial in Nice it's back to standard procedure. Fifty years after the first finish on Paris' most iconic boulevard, the race returns to the famous Champs-Élysées for the usual champagne-sipping and sprint finish on the last stage.

The world's best riders will battle for victory, with 2024 winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) taking on Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) – the latter returning from injury – and Primož Roglič (Red-Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

The three-week event is the second in the trio of Grand Tours, coming after the Giro d'Italia and before the Vuelta a España.

Check out our in-depth page on the Tour de France 2025 route for everything you need to know about the 21 stages from Lille to Paris, and our analysis of the route and where it might be won or lost.

Tour de France 2025: Key details

Tour de France 2025: The route

Tour de France 2025 route: Stage-by-stage

Tour de France 2025: The teams

The Tour de France peloton consists of 23 teams of eight riders. One more team that previous years. This includes all 18 UCI WorldTour teams, as well as the two best-ranked UCI ProTeams, and three further squads that were invited by the organiser, ASO.

Read the full Tour de France start list here.

Tour de France 2025: General classification riders

When it comes to potential yellow jersey winners, like last year, there are three riders to watch out for.

The trio comprises 2024 winner and Triple Crown supremo Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates); Olympic gold medallist Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), and two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike).

Pogačar will start as the favourite to win back-to-back Tours for the second time in his career, after an imperious reign in 2024 which saw him win - among many other races - the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and World Championships.

2022 and 2023 champion and last year's runner-up Vingegaard will likely be his biggest obstacle as the two go head-to-head once more, is the only rider over whom hangs a significant question mark for the race.

Evenepoel finished third and claimed the best young rider's jersey in his Tour de France debut in 2024, and has publicly stated his aim to compete with Vingegaard and Pogačar in 2024. The 2022 Vuelta champion will eye taking the yellow jersey on stage five's flat ITT and is another strong contender for a podium place.

Tour de France 2025: Sprinters

Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck and Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) starred last year, each winning three stages and Girmay making history as the first black African to win a Tour de France stage. The Eritrean won the green jersey, becoming the first African to win any jersey at the Tour, and his ability on punchy sprint finishes could see him ride into the history books once again in 2025.

Other sprinters likely to challenge for stage wins include Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla), Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek).

Tour de France 2025: On TV

The race will be live-streamed on Discovery+ and TNT Sports in the UK. Subscription costs are £6.99/month or $8.99/month, and £39.99 or $49.99 for a year. The race is also streamed, for the final time, on ITV4 in the UK, and is free to view.

A Flobikes annual subscription will cost you $209.99 if you want to watch in Canada, while in the USA NBC Sports via Peacock Premium ($4.99 per month) will show the race. Australians can can watch the Tour for free on SBS on Demand.

And, of course, if you want to watch your local stream from anywhere in the world you'll need a VPN from a trusted company like NordVPN.

Read our full how to watch the Tour de France guide.

Tour de France: The jerseys

The Tour de France jerseys and classifications are yellow for the overall leader, green for the leader in the points standings, polka-dot for the mountain classification, and white for the best young rider.

Along with the jersey prizes, there is an award for the most combative rider of each stage, with the winner wearing a red number on the following day. This is awarded each day, with a 'Super Combativity' award decided by a jury at the end of the race for the most active rider throughout the entire event.

There is also a team classification where the time of the first three riders from each team is put together to create a single time. This is then done in a similar way as the individual general classification.

In addition, there are plenty of bonus seconds up for grabs at the race. There are ten, six and four bonus seconds available at the end of each stage for the first three riders, as well as bonus sprints that are dotted throughout the race on key climbs to try and make the racing more entertaining for spectators.

Of course, there's also prize money up for grabs. For winning the 2023 edition of the race, Jonas Vingegaard collected €535,220 (£463,100), a sum which is customarily shared out among the team's riders and staff.

Tour de France: recent winners

• 2012: Bradley Wiggins (GBr)
• 2013: Chris Froome (GBr)
• 2014: Vincenzo Nibali (Ita)
• 2015: Chris Froome (GBr)
• 2016: Chris Froome (GBr)
• 2017: Chris Froome (GBr)
• 2018: Geraint Thomas (GBr)
• 2019: Egan Bernal (Col)
• 2020: Tadej Pogačar (Slo)
• 2021: Tadej Pogačar (Slo)
• 2022: Jonas Vingegaard (Den)
• 2023: Jonas Vingegaard (Den)
• 2024: Tadej Pogačar (Slo)

Tour de France FAQ

How does the Tour de France work?

The Tour de France takes place over 21 stages, with the winner - the man who claims the yellow jersey - being the rider with the lowest cumulative time over the three weeks. Each stage has its own individual winner, but the person who wins overall might not win a single one of these.

It is one of the three Grand Tours, along with the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España, and is the most famous and prestigious.

What makes up the Tour de France?

The race takes on varying terrain with flat days for sprinters, hilly days for puncheurs and mountains for the climbers and GC riders, along with time trials, so that a winner of the race has to be able to perform on all types of road.

What's the general classification?

The Tour, like all Grand Tours, The main prize in the race, known as the general classification, is based on time with the overall leader wearing the yellow jersey. The race leader and eventual winner is the rider who has the lowest accumulated time over the 21 days of racing. Riders can win the Tour de France without winning a stage, as Chris Froome did in 2017. Time bonuses of 10, six, and four seconds are given to stage winners though, creating incentive for those general classification riders to chase individual victories and lower their overall time.

In 2024 it took race winner Tadej Pogačar 83 hours, 38 minutes, 56 seconds to complete the race with the second-placed rider, Jonas Vingegaard, overall 6:17 slower. That continues all the way down to the last place rider, which was Mark Cavendish, who finished 6 hours, 23 minutes, 11 seconds behind.

Read our full general classification guide.

What are the other competitions?

The white best young rider's jersey is worked out in the same way but only riders under the age of 26 on 1 January are eligible for the jersey. This means anyone born in 2000 or after.

The polka-dot mountains jersey and the green points jersey are based on a points system and not time, gained throughout the race on climbs and at sprint points respectively.

The team classification is based on the general classification times of the first three riders of a team on each stage. The time of those three riders is added up and put onto their team's time, creating a GC list much like in the individual classifications. The leading team gets to wear yellow numbers and helmets on each stage.

The final classification available is the combativity prize. This is decided by a race jury or, in more recent years, social media. This takes place just before the end of each stage and often goes to a rider from the breakaway who has put in a daring performance or attempted to liven up the stage by attacking. The winner of the combativity award gets to wear a special red race number on the following day's stage.

There is a final prize added to this with the Super Combativity prize being awarded on the podium in Paris. This is decided in a similar fashion to pick out the most aggressive, entertaining, and daring rider of the whole three weeks. Again, usually going to a rider who has featured regularly in the breakaway.

How long is the Tour de France?

The Tour de France takes place over 23 days with 21 of them being race days. The riders get two days of resting; they usually fall on the second and third Monday of the race, but this year the first rest day takes place a day later than normal to ensure racing on Bastille Day.

How long is a stage?

Road stages can range from anything around 100km to something approaching 250km, sometimes more. This year the shortest road stage is stage 21 at 120km, from Mantes-la-Ville to Paris, with the longest being 212km on stage two, from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Road stages often take around four to five hours with the longer days sometimes nudging over seven hours.

Time trials are always much shorter. Team time trials have long since gone out of fashion in the world of road racing so individual time trials are the main focus these days.

In 2025, the Tour has two individual time trials for the riders to tackle. The first is one for the specialists against the clock, 33km on stage five starting and finishing in Caen. The second is just 11km but follows an intriguing mountainous route from Loudenvielle to Peyragudes.

When does the Tour de France start?

The 2025 Tour de France starts on 5 July in Lille, northern France, with a road stage. It's the first time in five years that the Tour will take place exclusively within France. The race finishes in Paris three weeks later, with the traditional procession for the general classification riders and full-blooded sprint for the fast men on the iconic Champs-Élysées.

The 2025 edition of the race runs from 5-27 July, covering 21 stages.