“We didn’t feel crazy enough to put the riders in the cobbles on day 1" - Tour de France route designer explains pavé-free start to 2025 edition in Lille
Cycling
Although build-up for the 2024 Tour de France is only just beginning for most teams and riders, the opening three stages of the 2025 route have been revealed. Starting in Lille, the race organisers have opted against the conclusion on cobbles.
Often, when the Tour de France does visit Lille, cobbled stages are involved, stages of the 2022 Tour and the 2014 edition stand out. Putting such a stage to open the entire race would be a step too far however, believes route designer Thierry Gouvenou.
“Given the choice we made of [start and finish] towns, we’d have had to have them on stage 1, because the pavé is all in the south of the region,” Gouvenou told L’Équipe. “We didn’t feel crazy enough to put the riders in the cobbles on day 1. So we abandoned that idea. They [the pavé sectors] will be back, but not in 2025.”
Pavé or no pavé though, there still will be challenges in the opening stages. “It’s a long stage, and we deliberately included lots of changes of direction in the hope that crosswinds could have an effect,” he explains. “Saint-Étienne-au-Mont (900 metres at 11%) which has 300-400 metres at 15% is as hard as the Pike on stage 1 of the 2023 Tour. With the new way of racing we have these days, I’m sure we’ll have all the top names right at the front of the pack. Anybody who’s badly positioned at the foot of these climbs risks losing a stack of time.”
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
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- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026
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