Tour de France Femmes 2025 route reveal: From Brittany to Chatel as nine stages await peloton
By Leon Imber
Updated 29/10/2024 at 12:47 GMT
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The route for Tour de France Femmes 2025 has been revealed, with the iconic road race set to see an historic nine stages, over a distance of 1165km - up more than 200km from this year's event. The race, which will see 22 teams comprised of seven riders each, will host two flat, two medium mountain, two high mountain and three hilly stages, as Kasia Niewiadoma looks to retain her 2024 crown.
Watch: Stage-by-stage guide as Tour de France Femmes 2025 route revealed
Video credit: TNT Sports
Kasia Niewiadoma will be looking to retain her Tour de France Femmes crown over an historic nine-stage course in 2025, with riders set to take on a record distance from Brittany to Chatel.
The route for next year's iconic road race was revealed on Tuesday and looks set to suit 2023 champion Demi Vollering, who will swap SD Worx-Protime for FDJ-Suez next year.
Riders will navigate a 1165km route, beginning in the picturesque cobbled town of Vannes - located in the Brittany region of northwest France - and finishing in the mountainous Chatel Les Portes Du Soleil.
Loig Chesnais-Girard - president of the Brittany region - spoke of his pride in hosting the Grand Depart.
He said: "What a pleasure it is to be hosting a Grand Depart of the Tour de France in Brittany once again, after doing so in Brest in 2021. In 2025, the world’s greatest cyclists will set off from Vannes for three Breton stages before continuing their battle across the rest of France."
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In the fourth edition of the modernised women's Tour de France, 22 teams comprised of seven riders will battle over the course of nine gruelling days from July 26 to August 3.
The route features two flat, two medium mountain, two high mountain and three hilly stages, with the iconic race's categorised climbs spread over three massifs: the Armorican Massif, the Massif Central and the Alps.
The Grand Depart will see the shortest stage of the nine-day race, with riders taking off from Vannes, heading north-east to Plumelec over a 79km distance.
Stage 2 will begin the following day at the route's most western point, in Brest, where they will tackle 110km south to Quimper.
Stage 3 sees the peloton start off in La Gacilly, where they begin to make inroads through the heart of France in a 162km ride which will likely see a bunch sprint in Angers. The following day, the riders will take off from Saumur and head 128km to Poitiers.
Stage 5 stands as the longest in next year's Tour de France Femmes with a gruelling 166km between Chasseneuil-du Poitou Futuroscope and Gueret, featuring the Maupuy climb.
Stage 6 looks to get progressively more difficult as flat road turns into mountainous terrain, beginning in Clermont-Ferrant - the venue for last year's start - and finishing in Ambert after a 124km ride.
And riders will head for the Alps for Stage 7 on August 1, taking on the third-longest stage from Bourg-En-Bresse to Chambery over 160km with the Saint-Franc climb en-route.
But the historic fourth edition of the road race only gets tougher as it progresses, with Stage 8 hosting the toughest climbs - including the Col de Plainpalais and notoriously tough flank of Madeleine - while also reaching the highest altitude across the nine stages.
And the demanding race is capped off with a 124km route from Praz-Sur-Arly to Chatel Les Portes du Soleil with riders taking on the tough Pre la Joux climb towards the finish line - concluding a record-setting course with regard to total vertical gain.
Niewiadoma claimed the 2024 title in stunning style, just four seconds ahead of Vollering, who leaked time in an earlier crash.
Annemiek Van Vleuten won the inaugural Tour de France Femmes.
Stream the 2025 cycling season, including the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes, live on discovery+
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