The ‘Grande Boucle’ will start from Lille in its 2025 edition, with three very flat initial stages
Only on the third of the already known days will the cobblestones appear
When there are still eight months left until the 2024 Tour de France, details of the next edition, the one corresponding to the year 2025, are already becoming known.
After knowing that Lille will be the location where the Grande Boucle 2025 starts, the organizer of the French round, ASO, has today announced the first three stages, all in the north of France. They will be flat stages, an opportunity for rollers and sprinters, and in the third of them the dreaded cobblestones will appear, the ‘pavès’.
The wind can also be decisive in those first three days of the Tour, for which there is still more than a year and a half left, according to ‘L’Équipe’.
Stage 1: Lille – Lille Métropole (185 kilometers)
Lille will be the city that will kick off the 112th edition of the Tour, for the third time in its history after the departures in 1960 and 1994. It will also host the arrival of the initial stage, 185 kilometers long, passing through Lens, Béthune and Hazebrouck, already designed for the victory of a sprinter.
The small passes of Cassel (1.9 km at 3.5%) and Mont Noir (1.3 km at 6.4%), two studs, are too far from the finish line to be decisive. The finish line is located at the foot of the citadel and at the end of a wide, one-kilometer straight, perfectly flat, with the wind as a factor to take into account.
Stage 2: Lauwin-Planque – Boulogne-sur-Mer (209 km)
The next day, a hard day of more than 200 kilometers, ideal for rollers. Between the hills of Artois and Boulonnais, the last fifty kilometers will concentrate the difficulties, with three classified hills, that of Haut Pichot (1 km at 10%), that of Saint-Étienne-au-Mont (900 meters at 11%) and that of Outreau (800 meters at 8.8%), in addition to a final climb of one kilometer. It can hold surprises.
Stage 3: Valenciennes – Dunkirk (172 km)
The classic wind in Normandy will be the differentiating factor of this third day of the Tour, ending in the port city of Dunkirk. The first part, leaving Valenciennes, will cross the mining basin and will not present great difficulties, but it is the last 35 kilometers, after the summit of Cassel (2.3 km at 3.8), the only trace of cobblestones in this ‘ Grand Départ’ in the North, where there may be battle.
The always exciting gala event in the month of July is already taking shape… 19 months in advance.