procycling

Pretty barebones test done by Velo, but interesting topic. What do you think?

From this article:

https://inrng.com/2025/07/tour-de-france-2025-review/

I like this view to show how the others fell off, over time.

Sunday 27: 16:10–16:25 → 19:25–19:45

NB : today, the women stage will finish one hour before the men stage starts.

The Tour is back in Paris, but for the first time, a climb up Montmartre is included in the Champs Élysées loop.

Ruling point (art. 20.b): if it is/starts raining, the times are taken on the first/subsequent passage over the finish ligne.

Saturday 26: 12:05–12:15 → 16:10–16:35

A hilly stage, most likely for breakawaymen. A faint last chance for L. Martinez to score mountain points and finish 2^nd^ before Vingegaard (Pogatchar is now out of his reach; only Vingegaard could in theory still grab the mountain jersey).

Beware: the stage starts and finishes about one hour earlier than most others, as there is a hell of a transfer to Paris area afterwards.

Friday 25: 13:30–13:40 → 17:15–17:45

This is the second and last alpine stage. There is a little bit less elevation gain than on the previous day, but the stage is very short and therefore there is even fewer flat sections. A breakaway paradise?

Mountain classification

1. T. Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE – 105 pts
2. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 89 (-16)
3. L. Martinez 🇫🇷 Bahrein – 72 (-33)
4. T. Arensman 🇳🇱 Ineos – 65 (-40)
5. B. O'Connor 🇦🇺 Jayco – 51 (-54)

Are available tomorrow, in order of apparition:

• 5 points at Héry/Ugine;
• 10 points on the Col des Saisies;
• 20 points on the Col du Pré;
• 5 points on the Cormet de Roselend;
• and 20 points in La Plagne.

That's a maximum of 60 points.

There will still be 9 extra points to grab on the hills the day after, and 5 more on the final Paris stage.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has intensified its fight against mechanical doping, employing intelligence-driven methods to combat increasingly sophisticated alleged cheating in professional cycling.

Is this really a thing?

Thursday 24: 12:10–12:20 → 17:10–17:50

This is the first of the 2 Alpine stages. There is not much true flat in the approach of the first climb, it's more often false flats. All 3 climbs are ranked 'HC', the last one (Loze Pass) is not particularly steep but is very long (and being the highest of the tour, it brings twice as many mountain points as other HC climbs). Its final part is irregular on a narrow asphalted track, however this side of the pass seems easier than the Méribel side which was climbed in 2020 and 2023.

The flat valley before the last climb may allow a bit of strategical play if a team has managed to send help in a breakaway, and managed to separate his leader from his opponent. But even so, would those 15 km (10 miles) significantly impact a race with 5,500 metres of elevation gain (18,000 feet)?

Wednesday 23: 13:35–13:50 → 17:10–17:30

We are going up the Rhone valley, for what is normally a sprinter stage (a short sprinter stage). However the course is not direct, a few hills were added, and tired sprinters like Milan seem to have been struggling a lot even on flat-ish sections during the last few days. So, who knows if a large group cannot get away again? Last chance before 2 days of pure mountain, for sprinters and flat/flat-ish breakaways specialists.

Tuesday 22: 12:10–12h40 → 16:45–17:15

This first stage of the last sequence is made of a long and boring approach that manages to avoid every hill available, before the Mont Ventoux as single and final climb.

Given the profile, and the fact that it comes after a rest day, we may see many explosions on the first slopes of the Ventoux. Luckily, no hot weather is expected.

Unless someone abandons during the rest day, there should still be 166 riders in the race (out of 184 starting on the first day). 165 after Van der Poel's withdrawal.

Standings before the last sequence

General classification

1. T. Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE
2. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 4′13″
3. F. Lipowitz 🇩🇪 Bora – 7′53″
4. O. Onley 🇬🇧 Picnic – 9′18″
5. K. Vauquelin 🇫🇷 Arkéa – 10′21″
6. P. Roglitch 🇸🇮 Bora – 10′34″
7. F. Gall 🇦🇹 Decathlon – 12′00″
8. T. Johannessen 🇳🇴 Uno-X – 12′33″
9. C. Rodriguez 🇪🇸 Ineos – 18′26″
10. B. Healy 🇮🇪 EF – 18′41″

Points

1. J. Milan 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek – 251 pts
2. T. Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE – 223
3. ~~M. Van der Poel 🇳🇱 Alpecin – 210~~
4. B. Girmay 🇪🇷 Intermarché – 169
5. T. Merlier 🇧🇪 Soudal-QS – 150

Mountain

1. L. Martinez 🇫🇷 Barhrain – 60 pts
2. T. Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE – 52
3. T. Arensman 🇳🇱 Ineos – 48
4. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 39
5. M. Woods 🇨🇦 IPT – 38

Teams

1. Visma 🇳🇱
2. UAE 🇦🇪 – 16′51″
3. Bora 🇩🇪 – 50′38″
4. Decathlon 🇫🇷 – 52′38″
5. Arkéa 🇫🇷 – 52′39″

NB: the gap between Visma and UAE is the same (difference is just 6 seconds) as before the second sequence!

Sunday 20: 13:20–13:30 → 17:05–17:30

The last stage of this short sequence, starting from Toulouse suburbs with a bit of flat and the comeback of the Lauragais hills we visited a bit on Wednesday before a couple of serious climbs in the Montagne Noire and a long downhill/flat finish, is probably the less stereotyped stage we've had so far. It looks open to many different rider profiles.

Saturday 19: 12:00–12:15 → 17:05–17:45

The second and last mountain stage in the Pyrénées. A flat start, and then a hell of 4 passes in a row with little (false) flat in between, starting with the Tourmalet and including climbing Peyresourde again from the same side (not sure Evenepoel will fancy coming back on this slope!).

Weather shall be significantly cooler than on the previous days, and it should be drizzling.

Beware: the stage starts earlier than usual (still not in the morning, though).

Friday 18: 13:10 → 17:05–17:30

Between the two mountain stages is a mountain Time Trial, climbing most of the road to the Peyresourde Pass, before turning towards the finish on the 15% slope of the runway of the “James Bond” altiport of the Peyresourde ski resort.

I add a link to the PCS profile because the official one doesn't look like they will be climbing a mountain pass https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2025/stage-13/info/profiles 😀

Thursday 17: 13:10–13:25 → 17:30–18:00

The first true mountain passes today.

The start is not as flat as often: they will use the hills of Gers instead of going along the valleys as the Tour de France always does. But just a bit: they will ride exclusively on the highway 🙄, so, long flat sections will still be present and the climbs will be smoother than on secondary roads; especially smooth as those hills are like factory roofs, and when going from East to West you always get the easy side.

Wednesday 16: 13:15–13:45 → 17:05–17:25

We start the short second sequence (5 days only) with a short stage around Toulouse, yet another stage designed for punchers.

Standings after the first long sequence:

General classification

1. B. Healy 🇮🇪 EF
2. T. Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE – 29″
3. R. Evenepoel 🇧🇪 Soudal-QS – 1′29″
4. J. Vingegaard 🇩🇰 Visma – 1′46″
5. M. Jorgenson 🇺🇸 Visma – 2′06″
6. K. Vauquelin 🇫🇷 Arkéa – 2′26″
7. O. Onley 🇬🇧 Picnic – 3′24″
8. F. Lipowitz 🇩🇪 Bora – 3′34″
9. P. Roglitch 🇸🇮 Bora – 3′41″
10. T. Johannessen 🇳🇴 Uno-X – 5′03″

Points

1. J. Milan 🇮🇹 Lidl-Trek – 227 pts
2. T. Pogatchar 🇸🇮 UAE – 163
3. B. Girmay 🇪🇷 Intermarché – 151
4. T. Merlier 🇧🇪 Soudal-QS – 150
5. M. Van der Poel 🇳🇱 Alpecin – 128

Mountain

1. L. Martinez 🇫🇷 Barhrain – 27 pts
2. B. Healy 🇮🇪 EF – 16
3. M. Woods 🇨🇦 IPT – 11

Teams

1. Visma 🇳🇱
2. UAE 🇦🇪 – 16′45″
3. Decathlon 🇫🇷 – 28′12″
4. FDJ 🇫🇷 – 29′07″
5. Arkéa 🇫🇷 – 29′41″

Monday 14: 13:10–13:25 → 17:25–17:55

The last stage of this long first sequence gathers et concentrates all the hills, climbs and other difficulties the previous days were lacking. There won't be a bit of flat, it goes up and down and up and down and up and...

Many climbers as well as many hard-classics specialists (à la Healy) will probably attempt to break away. Will Visma and UAE insist on looking for a stage win on this first mountain(-ish) stage?

Sunday 13: 13:10–13:25 → 17:05–17:30

Another flat stage for sprinters which, this time, might be disturbed by potential crosswinds/echelons.

Saturday 12: 13:10–13:25 → 17:05–17:25)

Good news for people who are working: they can spend the week-end outdoors, no need to watch the TV. In a strange move by an organiser who, consistently for over a decade, had created a stereotyped course design by placing (expected) spectacular stages on each week-end, both stages this week-end will be pure sprinter stages, as flat as possible. Considering that the opening Saturday was already a stage for sprinters, that's 3 out of 4 week-end days.

Friday 11: 12:10–12:25 → 16:40–17:05

Another stage for punchers, with the now classical ending on the circuit of Mûr de Bretagne.

Thrusday 10: 12:35–12:45 → 17:15–17:40

It looks like another stage for punchers, but will they be stars of the punch again, or could some breakaway men with some punch (like Healy in his in-shape version) compete? Or might a few sprinters (like Groves) make it through the last climbs?

Wednesday 9: 13:10 → 17:45

French Caen-Caen

The first individual Time Trial. Basically all flat, it is rather long compared to many others nowadays.

Rankings:

1- Van der Poel🇳🇱 & Pogatchar🇸🇮
3- Vingegaard🇩🇰 at 8″
4- Jorgenson🇺🇸 at 19″
5- Vauquelin🇫🇷 at 26″
6- Mas🇪🇸 at 48″
7- Onley🇬🇧 & Almeida at 55″
9- Evenepoel🇧🇪 at 58″
10- Skjelmose🇩🇰 at 1′02″

The annual look at pro team sponsors and what they do. Many of the sponsors are the same as last year but their situation has changed.

Tuesday 8: 13:15–13:35 → 17:20–17:45

The alternation continues: this stage shall be a puncher stage.