A Beginner’s Guide to the 2025 Tour de France (Part 1)

How It Works

The Tour de France (TDF) is a road bike race that takes place over three weeks. Each day of racing is called a stage, and there are twenty-one in all. The winner of the Tour is the rider with the lowest overall time at the end of all the stages.

Route

The exact route changes every year and covers between 3,300 and 3,500 km over the whole race. The 184 riders at the start don’t literally ride all the way around the country. Not every region of France is included, but some are must-visits every year: the Alps, the Pyrenees, and Paris for the final stage.

France boasts incredibly diverse landscapes, and each of the twenty-one stages has its own profile. Some are flat stages that end in big bunch sprints; others climb mountain passes topping out at over 2,000 metres in elevation; and many fall somewhere in between, giving punchers (riders who thrive on short, steep climbs) and breakaway specialists a chance to shine.  

Distinctive Jerseys

At the end of each stage, special jerseys are awarded to riders who stand out in different categories. There are four of these jerseys in total. Wearing one is an honour that carries over to the next stage. 

• Yellow jersey
  • Worn by the rider with the best overall time—namely, the current leader in the general classification.
• Green jersey
  • Worn by the rider with the most points from stage finishes and intermediate sprints. This one goes to the best sprinter.
• Polka dot jersey
  • Worn by the rider with the most points on categorized climbs, it goes to the best climber.
• White jersey
  • Worn by the best young rider (twenty-five or under) in the general classification.

Because times and points change from stage to stage, different riders can wear these jerseys on a given day.

Race Strategies

Not every rider lines up at the start hoping to win the Tour. The peloton is made up of twenty-three teams of eight riders. As in any team sport, each rider has a different role. Generally, a team has one leader and seven teammates. The leader is the rider with the best physical and tactical skills and the highest chances for the overall win (the yellow jersey). The teammates play a crucial role in protecting and supporting their leader in pursuit of that goal. To win the Tour, a leader needs to be a strong climber in the high mountains, a good time-triallist, and have a keen sense of where to ride in the peloton.     

But not every team can realistically aim for a victory in the general classification. That’s why some teams focus instead on trying to win individual stages rather than spending their energy fighting for the overall win. Winning a stage at the Tour is still a tremendous achievement in a rider’s career.  

Riders to Watch

• Tadej Pogačar
  • Pogi is the name on everyone’s lips. The twenty-six-year-old Slovenian already has three Tour wins (2020, 2021, 2024) and seventeen stage victories. Well on his way to becoming one of the greatest cyclists in history, he’s the clear favourite.
• Jonas Vingegaard
  • You can’t overlook the twenty-eight-year-old Dane, who won the Tour in 2022 and 2023. He’s the biggest threat to Pogačar.
• Remco Evenepoel
  • The twenty-five-year-old Belgian is the time trial king (2024 Olympics and 2023 and 2024 World Championships). He finished third last year and is still a strong contender for the podium.
• Mathieu Van Der Poel
  • From the Netherlands, MVDP has won the sport’s biggest one-day classics but only one Tour stage so far. His physical build keeps him from targeting a general classification victory, but he could definitely snag a few stage wins.
• Wout Van Aert
  • WVA has won nine Tour stages in his career and could have won many more if he weren’t such a model teammate. Time and again, the Belgian has given everything for his leader, Jonas Vingegaard. You couldn’t ask for a better teammate.
• Michael Woods
  • It’s hard not to feel some national pride about our fellow Canadian. Woods won a Tour stage in 2023. The veteran climber might just pull off another mountain stage win. Fingers crossed!

The Grand Départ of this year’s Tour de France takes place on Saturday, July 5 on a route around the city of Lille in the north of the country. The story of the first four stages will be written in this region. The sprinters and punchers will have fresh legs and will go all out to grab the yellow jersey. Get ready for fast, tense racing. Keep a close eye on Mathieu Van Der Poel, Jasper Philipsen, Biniam Girmay, Tim Merlier, Jonathan Milan, and Wout Van Aert. On stage 4, the riders should put on quite a show of power and fighting spirit over the rollercoaster-like final kilometres.     

Stage 5 is a 33-kilometre time trial in Caen. This type of stage is much shorter than a regular stage. Another difference is that riders set off one by one, so they don’t benefit from the drafting and protection of riding in the peloton. Few would be surprised if Remco Evenepoel asserts his dominance in the time trial.   

During stages 6 and 7, held in Normandy and Brittany respectively, fortune could smile on any brave riders who take off in the day’s breakaway. They’ll have to tackle a double ascent of the Mûr-de-Bretagne at the end of Stage 7—a short climb with steep gradients right from the first few hundred metres. This could be where we see the first real battle between general classification contenders.  

Stages 8 and 9 come next, giving the sprinters’ teams another chance to take control of the race.

The tenth stage is the first official mountain stage, taking riders through the Massif Central. The climbs won’t be as spectacular as those in the Alps, but it should be a gripping show. During this final stage before the first rest day, the riders will want to give it their all—especially since it falls on July 14, France’s national holiday. A French rider, such as Kevin Vauquelin or Lenny Martinez, might mark the occasion with a win on the summit finish.

Stay tuned!