The Pyrenees will once again play a major role in next summer's Tour de France.

In recent years, the Tour de France has often settled on the Alps and the Vosges as it attempts to visit all five mountain ranges of mainland France; in 2025, the three-week race is expected to take place counterclockwise, climbing the Pyrenees before the Alps.

The return of three back stages and a mountain time trial means that the Pyrenees will play a major role in determining the winner of the yellow jersey.

French route expert Thomas Vergouwen has painstakingly gathered details of the 2025 Tour route, leaked from local media reports, hotel reservations, and personal information, and published a stage list and map of the projected route on Velowire. Cycling route editor La Flamme Rouge also compiled similar details and published them on social media.

Both reported that three stages would be held in the Pyrenees, but there was some confusion about the order and some of the start and finish points. A report in the local newspaper La Dépêche seemed to answer this question before the details were announced Tuesday morning in Paris.

Cycling News will have live coverage of the Tour de France men's and Tour de France women's avec Zwift presentations on Tuesday, followed by race route details, rider reactions, and analysis.

The 2025 men's Tour de France will start in Lille in northern France on Saturday, July 5 and end in Paris on Sunday, July 27; since the Olympics will not be held in 2025, the Tour de France women will run for nine days from Saturday, July 26 to Sunday, August 3, The race will be held in conjunction with the men's race

After the start in Lille, the men's race will head west to Normandy and Brittany, through the Massif-Saint-Laurent, with the first rest day in Toulouse. Stage 11 will be a loop around Toulouse before entering the Pyrenees.

Stage 12 will start in Auch, west of Toulouse, and finish in Hautacam on Thursday, July 17.

The 13.4 km climb has an average gradient of 7.7%. It has been used six times in the Tour de France, most famously in 1996, when EPO-treated Bjarne Riis took the yellow jersey; in 2022, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogachar clashed on the same climb, with the Dane dropping his rival to win his first Tour victory.

Stage 13 will also take place in the Pyrenees and will see the return of the mountain time trial.

The stage is only 13 km long, but painful because it climbs from the valley town of Roudenville to the Peyragude airport landing strip at the ski station below the Col de Peyresourde.

The 2023 Alpine Time Trial was hilly, but also had downhill and valley sections. This stage is likely to be a true mountain time trial, with riders opting for lightweight road bikes rather than aerodynamic time trial bikes.

In 2025, the Pyrenees will have a mountain finish for the third year in a row until stage 14, the Luchon Superbagnère.

Hours before the announcement, L'Equipe, the organizer of the Tour de France, approved the return of the Luchon Superbagnère. The stage climbs 4,950 meters and includes the Col du Tourmalet (19 km, 7.4%), the Col d'Aspin (5 km, 7.6%), the Peyresur (7.1 km, 7.8%), and the finish at Luchon Superbagnères (12.4 km, 7.4%).

The climb of the Luchon Superbagnère was once famous in the Tour, won by pure climbers such as Imerio Massignan, Federico Bahamontes, and Robert Millar. 1986, Greg Lemon and Bernard Hinault won La Vie Claire in La Vie Claire. Despite being teammates, they fought for the yellow jersey. He kicked off his French rivals and took the overall win in Paris.

The climb up Luchon-Supervanier has not been used since 1989, but a new bridge and a new ski lift have made logistics much easier for the trucks and vehicles used to host and broadcast the Tour.

In 2025, the Tour de France will head east via Carcassonne, Montpellier, and Mont Ventoux after a trio of Pyrenean mountain stages, with a final stage in the Alps before finishing on the traditional Paris Champs Elysees.

Route details for the 2025 Tour de France will be announced on Tuesday.