"I expect a close battle until the last two mountain stages in Alps" - Christian Prudhomme hopes for a far more open Tour de France in 2025

The 2025 Tour de France was finally revealed on Tuesday. It has in offer what seems like a fairly balanced mix of sprints, hilly stages and high mountains. Race director Christian Prudhomme predicts a very close battle for overall victory until the Alpine stages in third week.

After multiple starts abroad, Tour returns home with a Grand Départ in Lille: "All in France? The Grand Departures abroad are fundamental, because they allow the Tour to shine even more," said Prudhomme in an interview with L’Equipe. "But they must be done on the condition that we also go to our medium-sized and small cities. After three Grand Départs abroad, this time we will start in lands that have a visceral love for cycling."

First week in the north means first week of flats? "No. We are thinking about the end of the second stage, in Boulogne-sur-Mer, the ramp of Saint-Hilaire before the finish in Rouen and also the Mûr-de-Bretagne. There are certainly places to attack. These are stages designed for riders in the style of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and, consequently, for riders who can win the Tour. In total, there are six sprinter stages in the 2025 Tour: four are in the first 10 days, but on none of them is there an absolute certainty that a sprint will be reached."

Mont Ventoux returns from a short hiatus, Alpe d'Huez will sit this one out: "In the Isère area they understand that they don't only have that climb, and that we can also do other mountains, perhaps less known. This is the case of the Planche des Belles Filles, but also of the Col de la Loze, which few knew about and which has now become an almost essential place for our route."

Expectations, for ASO, in view of the 2025 Tour de France: "I expect that the Peyragudes time trial will not be the definitive turning point," the race director thinks. "And that even the arrival at the top of Ventoux will still leave the situation in terms of the Yellow Jersey in the balance, until the last two stages in the Alps."