Tadej Pogacar: Defending Tour de France champion offers verdict on ‘brutal’ 2025 route amid Mont Ventoux return
Updated 31/10/2024 at 10:26 GMT
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Ominously for his rivals, Tadej Pogacar appears satisfied with the 2025 Tour de France route, describing it as "brutal" after its official unveiling by organisers ASO earlier this week. With 51,550m of elevation gain crammed into the 21-stage race, next year's edition looks set for another humdinger of a clash between three-time champion Pogacar and erstwhile rival Jonas Vingegaard.
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Reigning Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar has offered his verdict on the 2025 Tour route after it was unveiled in Paris on Tuesday, describing it as "brutal".
Kicking off in Lille on 5 July, the 112th edition of the sport's biggest race will take place entirely within the borders of France for the first time in five years.
The route is also the closest to a 'tour' of France as it has been in years, heading west towards Brittany before looping southwards, east from the Pyrenees to the Alps, and then heading back up to Paris for the classic Champs-Elysees sprint finish after a brief break from the traditional closing stage last year.
Pogacar told L'Equipe the race begins with some "tricky stages", with the opening week including multiple stages designed for sprinters but with several punchy climbs along the way, ideal for the likes of Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel.
More consequentially for the battle for the leader's yellow jersey, the route includes five summit finishes and tackles several iconic climbs.
The Pyrenees, Alps, Massif Central and the Jura mountain ranges feature and with 51,550m of climbing in the 21-stage race, this is once again a race for the toughest climbers.
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Mont Ventoux, the Col de la Loze - where Pogacar's title hopes collapsed in 2023 - and Hautacam - another equally grim day for the Slovenian in 2022 - are some of the toughest summits in this edition.
"The stage to Mont Ventoux is mostly flat but the climb is very hard, it's for the pure climbers," Pogacar said.
"I love that climb, it's different to anything else. It'll be even more interesting to see what happens as it comes after the second rest day.
"The Alps are always hard. The stage to the Col de la Loze is perhaps the Queen stage because it has such a high amount of climbing. I think it'll be brutal."
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Before the Alps come the Pyrenees, including an intriguing, 11km mountainous time trial on Stage 13 at the Peyragudes altiport.
"I especially like the Peyragudes time trial," Pogacar added. "I've never done that climb in a time trial before. It'll be interesting to see what happens but I've had good results in the Pyrenees in the past."
The 2025 route is likely to suit both Pogacar and Vingegaard, the sport's premier climbers and all-rounders, although Pogacar will need to exorcise his Col de la Loze demons after conceding six minutes and the entire Tour on that stage in 2023.
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The moment Pogacar cracked on Stage 17 of 2023 Tour de France
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The stage is set for another tussle between the two greats, with the UAE Team Emirates man aiming for a fourth Tour de France title after an utterly imperious showing in 2024 and Vingegaard his third, having come second this year.
The Visma-Lease a Bike leader may have something of a psychological advantage going into the toughest mountain stages given their recent history at the race, but Pogacar has shown essentially no weaknesses this season and is likely to have learned from his mistakes in previous Tours.
Visma-Lease a Bike's sports director, Grischa Niermann, said it was a "very beautiful, but tough course," adding, "Jonas couldn’t be there today, but I can imagine he’s happy with the course.
"But that will also apply to Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, for example."
Stream the 2025 cycling season, including the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes, live on discovery+
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