“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

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.”