Date: Saturday, July 5, 2025 - Sunday, July 27, 2025
Start: Lille
Finish: Paris
Total distance: 3,320km
Elevation: 51,550 metres 
Stages: 21
Riders: 176
Teams: 22
Defending champion: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 

Tour de France overview

The Tour de France is unquestionably the world's biggest bike race. While many other races on the cycling calendar hold historic and exceptional prestige in their own right, there is nothing quite like the Tour. It reaches beyond dedicated cycling followers and permeates the consciousness of millions of sports fans around the world and is, for many people, their only engagement with professional cycling each year.

As such, the race and its trademark elements have almost taken on a life of their own. The yellow jersey – the signifier of the leader of the race's individual general classification and at the end, the overall winner – for instance, is an item of sacred sporting status that is instantly recognisable. Likewise, many of the race's most famous climbs including Alpe d'Huez, Mont Ventoux, and the Col du Tourmalet are revered landmarks of their respective mountain ranges.

But while the status of the Tour is unique, it is not the only race of its kind in cycling. Taking place over three weeks and 21 stages, it is one of cycling's three Grand Tours along with the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. Winning any of these races is an exceptional physical challenge, and few riders are capable of achieving it, let alone winning multiple editions.

However, winning the Tour catapults a rider's career into the highest echelons of cycling and sporting history. Now in its 112th edition, only 64 riders have etched their names into the roll of honour at the Tour, the most recent of whom was Tadej Pogačar, the UAE Team Emirates rider, who won his third Tour title in 2024. He also won the earlier Giro d’Italia, secured the rare Giro-Tour double, a feat not achieved in 26 years. 

The Tour is much more than just the yellow jersey however, with riders chasing individual stage wins throughout the race, as well as victory in the race's other classifications; the points classification (green jersey), the mountains classification (polka-dot jersey), and the best young rider classification (white jersey).

Tour de France route 2025

With the route taking place entirely in France, multiple summit finishes including Mont Ventoux, a mountain time trial in the Pyrenees and a return to the traditional Paris finale, race director Christian Prudhomme has built a vintage and explosive 2025 Tour de France. He’ll be hoping for yet another gripping battle between defending champion Tadej Pogačar and two-time Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard which will take place on some of the sport’s most iconic climbs.

Find out more about the entire 2025 route

Stage one: Lille Métropole to Lille Métropole / 185km
Stage two: Lauqin-Planque to Boulogne-Sur-Mer / 212km
Stage three: Valenciennes to Dunkerque / 178km 
Stage four: Amiens Métropole to Rouen / 173km
Stage five: Caen to Caen / 33km
Stage six: Bayeux to Vire Normandie / 201km 
Stage seven: Saint-Malo to Mûr-de-Bretagne Guerlédan / 194km 
Stage eight: Saint-Méen-Le-Grand to Laval Espace Mayenne / 174km
Stage nine: Chinon to Châteauroux / 170km 
Stage 10: Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy / 163km 
Stage 11: Toulouse to Toulouse / 154km 
Stage 12: Auch to Hautacam / 181km
Stage 13: Loudenvielle to Peyragudes / 11km
Stage 14: Pau to Luchon-Superbagnères / 183km
Stage 15: Muret to Carcassonne / 169km
Stage 16: Montpellier to Mont Ventoux / 172km
Stage 17: Bollène to Valence / 161km
Stage 18: Vif to Courchevel Col de la Loze / 171km
Stage 19: Albertville to La Plagne / 130km
Stage 20: Nantua to Pontarlier / 185km
stage 21: Mantes-la-Ville to Paris Champs-Élysées / 120km

Tour de France teams 2025

The full line-up will be announced closer to the start of the Tour. Nevertheless, 176 riders representing 22 teams will line up for the start on Saturday, July 5, 2025.

Tour de France history 

The Tour de France will be in its 112th edition in 2025, first starting in 1903. Having only stopped for the two world wars, the Tour rose to become the premier event of the cycling calendar and is now one of the most-watched sporting events in the world. The Tour has changed significantly since its first iteration, but at its heart, it remains a gruelling test of physical and mental endurance for the participants.

Such is the Tour’s prestige, overall wins and stage wins are defining moments in the careers of riders. Some riders, however, have shaped the history of the Tour through their exceptional exploits, winning the general classification multiple times throughout their careers. Jacques Anquetil (1957 - 1964), Eddy Merckx (1969 - 1974), Bernard Hinault (1978 - 1985) and Miguel Indurain (1991 - 1995) hold the joint record of five for the most Tour wins, while Indurain is the only rider to win his titles in five-consecutive years. American Lance Armstrong held the record of seven until he had his titles stripped in 2012 after admitting to doping. 

As for stage wins, Mark Cavendish did share the title with Eddy Merckx, having 34 stages to their names. However, in the 2024 edition of the race, the British rider from the sprint on stage five from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to Saint-Vulbas, writing himself into the history books as the rider with the most Tour de France stage wins. 

In the other classifications, Peter Sagan has a record seven victories in the green jersey points competition, while former French rider Richard Virenque has the same number in the polka-dot jersey of the King of the Mountains.

Most Tour de France wins: 

Five wins: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, and Miguel Indurain 

Four wins: Chris Froome

Three wins: Philippe Thys, Louison Bobet, Greg LeMond, and Tadej Pogačar 

Recent Tour de France winners: 

2024 - Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates 

2023 - Jonas Vingegaard, Jumbo-Visma

2022 - Jonas Vingegaard, Jumbo-Visma

2021 - Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates

2020 - Tadej Pogačar, UAE Team Emirates

2019 - Egan Bernal, Team Ineos

2018 - Geraint Thomas, Team Sky 

2017 - Chris Froome, Team Sky

2016 - Chris Froome, Team Sky

2015 - Chris Froome, Team Sky 

2014 - Vincenzo Nibali, Astana ProTeam