Tour de l'Avenir 2025 organizers prepared a nasty surprise for all participants with a mountain prologue in Tignes

Tour de l'Avenir is traditionally one of the most important events on the calendar, even though it's "only" under-23 race. Why is it that the "mini-Tour" gets so much attention compared to any other big under-23 event?

One of possible explanations is its indirect connection with Tour de France, another could be that year after year, the best young riders gather in this race to test themselves on the challenging parcours against their peers. And the winner? The winner has a more than decent chance to become a future Grand Tour star...

It's not hard to see a pattern among past winners such as Nairo Quintana, Miguel Ángel López, Egan Bernal, Tadej Pogacar, or the latest Giro d'Italia sensation Isaac del Toro.

With its unrelenting parcours year after year, the route revelation is very exciting as the race is known for visiting the most famous French peaks. No different was the 2024 edition. The final stage with finish on Colle delle Finestre witnessed a ride for the history books by then 18-year-old Pablo Torres who nearly cracked the one-hour barrier. The same climb will also witness the decisive battle of on-going Giro d'Italia.

But what exactly is on the 2025 menu?

The opening 3-kilometer prologue will be a merciless welcome gift for anyone out of shape on Saturday, August 23. What's so brutal about a short prologue? It's the detail that riders take off from Tignes Les Brévières at 1.550 meters of altitude and need to climb up to the resort center at Tignes 1800. Three kilometers at 7.5%.

Afterwards, the peloton will descend from the high mountains for four easier stages and on Thursday, it'll be a deja vu for all riders as after Col des Sasies (13.1 km at 6%), Cormet de Roselend (20.3 km at 6.2%) and Montée des Moulins (9.2 km at 5.6%), they once again climb to Tignes. And this time all the way to Tignes 2100 (19.1 km at 5.4%).

Those who would think that the ski resort in Tignes is the highest point on the route of 2025 Tour de l'Avenir will be unpleasantly surprised by the itinerary of final, seventh stage.

Starting for La Rosiere at 1.800 meters of altitude riders cross the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard - the highest point of the race 2.186 meters above the sea level. Afterwards they descend to the valley where they make a short loop and then through brutal Colle San Carlo (10.5 km at 10%) and Col du Petit Saint-Bernard (13.1 km at 5.6%), they return the same way to a cable car station in La Rosiere.

Without a doubt, whoever can overcome all these obstacles deserves to be viewed as a rider with all the tools to succeed at the highest level. The whole top-10 from last year is already enjoying a professional contract after all.