When is the 2025 Tour de France? Start, dates and this year’s route

All you need to know about this year’s Tour de France

Tadej Pogacar is bidding to defend the yellow jersey (Daniel Cole/AP) (AP)

The 2025 Tour de France will be the 112th edition of the race, as Tadej Pogacar aims to defend the yellow jersey and win the fourth Tour of his career.

The route begins in Lille, Normandy before making a clockwise route around France, via the Pyrenees and then the Alps, before the finale in Paris. The race will return to its roots with all 21 stages taking place in its homeland, the first exclusively French Tour for five years.

Here is everything you need to know about the race.

• Click here for a stage-by-stage guide to the 2025 Tour De France

When does the Tour de France start?

The race begins with the Grand Depart in Lille on Saturday 5 July. Stage one is a flat route set up for the sprinters to contest for victory and the yellow jersey.

When are the rest days?

There are two rest days. The first occurs on Tuesday 15 July, pushed back so that the peloton can race on Bastille Day, which falls on the second Monday which is usually the first rest day. The second will be on Monday 21 July.

Tadej Pogacar is the reigning Tour de France champion (AP)

When does the Tour de France finish?

This year’s Tour ends on the Champs-Elysees on 27 July, with the intriguing addition of three loops of Montmartre, with a short, sharp climb to mix up the usual procession to the home straight.

How to watch

The 2025 Tour de France will be broadcast live on ITV4 in the UK, in what is the last year of free-to-air coverage of the race before it is exclusively shown on TNT Sports and Discovery+.

Tour de France 2025 route

1 5 July 2025 Lille Métropole → Lille Métropole 184.9

2 6 July 2025 Lauwin‑Planque → Boulogne‑sur‑Mer 209.1

3 7 July 2025 Valenciennes → Dunkerque 178.3

4 8 July 2025 Amiens Métropole → Rouen 174.2

5 (ITT) 9 July 2025 Caen → Caen 33

6 10 July 2025 Bayeux → Vire Normandie 201.5

7 11 July 2025 Saint‑Malo → Mûr‑de‑Bretagne (Guerlédan) 197

8 12 July 2025 Saint‑Méen‑le‑Grand → Laval 171.4

9 13 July 2025 Chinon → Châteauroux 174.1

10 14 July 2025 Ennezat → Le Mont‑Dore (Puy de Sancy) 165.3

— 15 July 2025 Rest Day — Toulouse –

11 16 July 2025 Toulouse → Toulouse 156.8

12 17 July 2025 Auch → Hautacam 180.6

13 (MTT) 18 July 2025 Loudenvielle → Peyragudes 10.9

14 19 July 2025 Pau → Luchon‑Superbagnères 182.6

15 20 July 2025 Muret → Carcassonne 169.3

— 21 July 2025 Rest Day — Montpellier –

16 22 July 2025 Montpellier → Mont Ventoux 171.5

17 23 July 2025 Bollène → Valence 160.4

18 24 July 2025 Vif → Courchevel (Col de la Loze) 171.5

19 25 July 2025 Albertville → La Plagne 129.9

20 26 July 2025 Nantua → Pontarlier 184.2

21 27 July 2025 Mantes‑la‑Ville → Paris (Champs‑Élysées) 132.3