Tour director Christian Prudhomme is very important to remind you of certain stages in special places and champions from the history of his race. This is particularly common this year.
In France, the Tour de France owns the traffic jams of a national cultural monument, so it cannot surprise that its organizers maintain the history of this bike race in a special way. Christian Prudhomme is, fittingly, even a model student in the subject “Tour history”, the director of the France tour always emphasizes with great pathos how important it is to maintain the legacy of his race. This time Prudhomme particularly fulfilled this in the design of the 112nd edition of the tour, which started on Saturday in Lille.
The fact is that the tour has completely ignored the north of France in the past two years, although there is a large cycling tradition there. This summer it seems that Prudhomme, especially the North and north-east French, want to delight with visits in their regions.
Memories of Jean Stblinski
The result is a tour of reminiscences and the visits of memory locations in the form of a large open-air history lesson. The start in Lille in the former coal area of the North Départements is to be remembered by the deeds of the French sprinter Jean Stablinski (1932 to 2007), whose home town of Thun-Saint-Amand is 40 kilometers south of Lille and can also be found in the North Département.
Won five stages at the Tour de France: Jean Stblinski
Stablinski won five tour stages between 1957 and 1967, he won in 1958 on the tour of Spain and became street world champion in Salo di Garda, Italy in 1962. “It is clear that we also want to honor Jean Stablinski with the starting point Lille”says Prudhomme in an interview with the “Sportschau”. In addition, the tour leader “wants to recall my predecessor Jean-Marie Leblanc, who also comes from the north department”.
The Jean Robic coup
The fourth stage is devoted to two French tour heroes of once. On the way from Amiens to Rouen in Normandy, the participants of the race have to conquer the Côte de Bonsecours a good 20 kilometers before the finish, a mountain of the fourth category and a hill that is part of tour history. In the summer of 1947, little Frenchman Jean Robic attacked this climb on the final stage from Caen to Paris and, on the last day of the first post-war tour, conquered the yellow jersey that the Italian Pierre Brambilla had previously worn.
Jean Robic (right) on the rear wheel of Fausto Coppi at the Tour 1952
The evening before, Robic was still third in the overall ranking, but thanks to his coup, he stormed into first place – “Back then, something like that was still possible, when you could make the difference with a Parforcer pass on the closing day. Jean Robic won the tour without once wearing the yellow jersey in the race, his masterpiece was a fabulous thing in France at the time, which created a big echo”says Prudhomme. At the top of the Côte de Bonsecours, a stele has been reminiscent of Jean Robic’s actions for 25 years now.
Visiting Jacques Anquetil in Rouen
Rouen in turn, the destination of the fourth daily ranking, is the home of Jacques Anquetil, the first cyclist who won the tour five times. Anquetil, a leaner Normann, nickname “Monsieur Chrono”, was a proven time trial expert, he won the race in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964. Most recently, Rouen was a stage of the tour in 2012, at that time André Greipel won on the shore of the Seine. The city was reminiscent of its famous son on its old market square in the form of a special exhibition 13 years ago.
On the sixth day of the tour 2025, Thierry Gouvenou, among others, focuses on the route architect of the race. The stage ends in Vire normal, his home town, where he also went to school. “This is a big deal for Thierry, who has always dreamed that the route of the tour leads through vire normal. Now even a stage even ends there”says Prudhomme. Gouvenou, who took part in the tour seven times as a cyclist himself, will know what he is doing to the small town. For the honor of being the destination of the tour, the racing organizers of the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) calculate 130,000 euros. For Gouvenou, however, it should certainly not have been difficult to negotiate a discount.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme at the route of the route for the tour 2025
Homage to Bernard Hinault in Brittany
The seventh stage of the tour on July 11th is a tribute to the Bretons Bernard Hinault. Like Anquetil, he won the tour five times, most recently he achieved 1985. Since then no Frenchman has won the most difficult bike race in the world. Hinault lives on a farm in Calorguen, this place with just 722 inhabitants, the peloton passes after 51 out of almost 200 kilometers of racing. Hinault was born in Yffiniac. This village is also part of the course, after 120 kilometers the tour team passes the village, in which 5,000 people live.
Bernard Hinault (right) in 1986 on the tour, in the end team -mate Greg Lemond (left)
The eighth stage in Saint-Méen-Le-Grand begins a day later. The tour hero Louison Bobet was born there. “He would have been 100 years old this March, he won the tour in 1953, 1954 and 1955. So his last tour victory was 70 years ago, that is a second reason to remember him in his home community”says Prudhomme.
The same route as 1986
The Pyrenees town of Superbagnères is also one of the memories of the tour. There, Hinault lost a lot of time in the yellow jersey in the yellow jersey due to a weakness to his team on his team in the team, who later won the tour. Superbagnères is a place of fate for French cycling lovers. The race no longer guested up there for 36 years, “That was due to two old bridges that would not have been withstood to the tour of the tour. Now they are renovated and we move exactly on the 1986 course. That was important to us”says Prudhomme.
The tour of the memories ends on July 27th, as was common on the Champs-élysées in the heart of Paris since 1975. This time there are even three mountain ratings to be completed on the Montmartre before the 112nd edition of the race comes to an end. “Cycling has deep roots. For me it is very important that we remember what was – in places and champions”says Prudhomme. Therefore, many allusions to the past are always integrated into a tour course. But this time the Col de la Loze as the end of the 18th stage. The violent alpine increase of 26.4 kilometers in length is only part of the tour of France for the third time. “I am very committed to recalling the history of the tour. But it is just as important to me to always incorporate something new. Like the Col de la Loze. And like the Montmartre.”
The Col de la Loze as part of something new
With regard to the Col de la Loze, a tradition can grow up from it, the mountain brings everything to become a mythical tour of tour one day, says Prudhomme. The Montmartre, however, is a memory of the Paris Olympic Games and the extraordinary viewer during the street race. According to the situation, things should stay on the Paris local mountain on a unique trip. However, there is a lot to suggest that this tours will be one that is already considered with the adjective “historical ‘” in view of the expected spectacle. Which would match the principle of the tour under Prudhomme.