The first three stages of the 2025 Tour de France will take place in the north of the country, organizers announced Thursday, suggesting that a sprinter could be the first to capture the leader’s yellow jersey.
ASO, the organizer of the Grande Boucle, had already announced earlier this month that the race would start in Lille on July 5, 2025.
The first stage will be a loop which will surround the city, and this will take place mainly on the flat. The next day, the peloton will have to cover 209 kilometers between Lauwin-Planque and Boulogne-sur-Mer, and the finish line will be located at the top of a kilometer-long slope.
The third stage will connect Valenciennes to Dunkirk. ASO also specified that the start of the fourth stage will be given in Amiens, the capital of Picardy.
The kickoff of the 112e edition of the Tour de France will be held in France for the first time in four years. The start took place in Denmark in 2022 and in Bilbao, Spain, earlier this year. Next year’s Grande Boucle will begin in Florence, Italy.
The Tour de France will get underway in Lille for the third time in its history, after the 1960 and 1994 editions.
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