Cycling in Yorkshire & Beyond
Cycling in Yorkshire & Beyond
Stage 13 | Stage 14 | Stage 15
Stage 14 of the Tour de France 2025 is a 182.6km mountain stage from Pau via the Col du Tourmalet, Col d'Aspin and Col de Peyresourde to Luchon-Superbagnères.
The race organisers say that this stage is modelled on one from the 1986 edition of the Tour - Stage 13, when Bernard Hinault went on a solo break, but Greg LeMond overhauled the Frenchman and took the stage win.
It's the final climb which will be key - 12.4km at an average 7.3%, but with gradient changes which will enable attacks.
This is the race report for Stage 14 Tour de France 2025.
These are video highlights of Stage 14.
Race Details | Poll | Map & Profile | Timings | Videos | Food & Drink | Route Notes | Favourites
| Date | Saturday 19th July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Stage classification | Mountain |
| Distance | 182.6km |
| Intermediate sprint | Esquièze-Sère |
| Climbs | Col du Tourmalet (HC) Col d'Aspin (Cat. 2) Col de Peyresourde (Cat. 1) Luchon-Superbagnères (HC) |
| Total climbing | 4,950m |
Vote for one of the main contenders to win Stage 14.
This is a map of the route of Stage 14, Tour de France 2025.
This is a zoom-able map of Stage 14 Tour de France 2025.
This is the profile of Stage 14 Tour de France 2025.
| Caravan | Fast Schedule | Slow Schedule | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start Time (départ fictif) | 1000 |
1200 |
1200 |
| Start Time (départ réel) | 1015 |
1215 |
1215 |
| Esquièze-Sère Intermediate Sprint | 1157 |
1348 |
1357 |
| Col du Tourmalet Climb | 1255 |
1436 |
1455 |
| Col d'Aspin Climb | 1344 |
1520 |
1544 |
| Finish Line (182.6km) | 1544 |
1707 |
1744 |
This is a video of the route of Stage 14 Tour de France 2025.
The last time the Tour de France finished at Luchon-Superbagnères was on Stage 10 of the 1989 edition of the race. Robert Millar beat Pedro Delgado to the line after a long breakaway.
I suggest Madiran wine (affiliate link) to accompany today's stage. These are bold reds made from Tannat and other grapes.
Tourmalet cheese is made from sheep's milk near the Col du Tourmalet. It's chewy, with a nutty taste. It goes well with Madiran wine, or a white Viognier.
The stage starts in Pau (départ fictif).
Pau is a city of 78,506 people (the inhabitants are called Palois) on the river Gave de Pau. It's the historic capital of the province of Béarn.
There are views of the Pyrenees from the boulevard des Pyrenées. Alphonse de Lamartine said, 'Pau has the most beautiful view of the earth just as Naples has the most beautiful view of the sea.'
The origin of the name Pau is uncertain. It could come from pal, referring to the palisade or fence around the first castle in Pau. Another possibility is that pal means rockface, and refers to Pau's position at the foot of mountains.
A castle was built by the Viscounts of Béarn, probably in the C11th, to protect a ford of the Gave de Pau. Pau became the capital of Béarn in 1464. It then became the seat of the Kings of Navarre in 1512. Henri of Navarre went on to become King Henri IV of France, in 1589. In 1620, Béarn lost its independence from France, although the Parliament of Navarre continued to govern local matters (with laws in the Occitan dialect).
In the Belle Epoque (usually defined as 1871 to 1914), Pau developed as a tourist destination for the royal, aristocratic, and rich. Scottish doctor Alexander Taylor helped make it a popular destination for a winter cure. Later, aviation and petrochemicals (following the discovery of natural gas in Lacq) were significant industries here, and more recently, the services sector has grown. There's a large student population at the Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour.
The Château de Pau is one of the city's main attractions. It was originally a fortification guarding a ford of the Gave de Pau, reinforced in the C14th by Gaston III of Foix-Béarn. In the C16th, as the seat of the Navarre dynasty, it was transformed into a residence.
Henri of Navarre was born in the château. Wikipedia has a garbled explanation of Henri's connection to the castle, which has the hallmarks of a computer translation from French: 'The future Henri IV takes the trouble to be born December 13, 1553, and the story did the rest. The fame of the king...gives the castle, which did not see him grow up or die, a particular taste, and the right to claim honours those who give birth supermen.' Right. I, who not understand all things to men, a special smell, this translation glorious three and a half ten out of.
The départ réel is at the south eastern edge of Pau, on the D37 near the D802 Rocade at Mazères-Lezons.
The route of Stage 14 of the 2025 Tour is similar to that of Stage 14 of the 2024 edition from Pau to Sainte-Marie-de-Campan.
The riders follow the D938 south south east, roughly following the course of the Gave de Pau to Coarraze.
Henri IV spent his childhood spent his childhood in the castle at Coarraze.
Stage 14 crosses the Gave de Pau at Coarraze and joins the D937 through Igon, and Lestelle-Bétharram where there is a religious sanctuary.
Near Lestelle-Bétharram are the Caves of Bétharram. Back to other side of the Gave de Pau, the riders reach Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre where there's an abbey that welcomes pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostela
Then it's on to Lourdes.
Lourdes is a market town of around 15,000 people, but which receives 6 million visitors every year.
This site was probably inhabited in prehistoric times. Later, there was a Gallo-Roman settlement, and some traces of Roman walls, statues, and votive offerings have been found during works to the fort.
During the One Hundred Years War, the English occupied Lourdes, from 1360 to 1407.
The attraction of Lourdes comes from the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a 14-year-old girl called Bernadette Soubiros in 1858. Mary appeared to her eighteen times in total.
Soubiros saw a beautiful lady at the Massabielle grotto, and the lady said that she was the Immaculate Conception. Soubiros reported this to her priest, Father Peyremale.
The lady also told Soubiros to drink from a source. This spring still produces water, and pilgrims are able to bathe in it; it is said to have occasioned miracle cures.
There's a fort in Lourdes, originally built in Roman times; the oldest surviving parts are from the C11th and C12th. The fort houses a Pyrenean museum. The town is overlooked by three peaks: le Béout, Petit Jer, and Grand Jer.
A funicular railway called the Pic du Jer goes up to the Grand Jer.
After going through Lourdes Stage 14 heads south, still following the Gave de Pau. It reaches Argelès-Gazost.
'Gazost' refers to thermal waters, and according to the race organisers the waters here have something to do with phlebology, which is not in my vocabulary. If I visit, I think I'll stick to eating pastis, which in this case is not a drink but a cake.
Next on the route is Pierrefitte-Nestalas, then the race goes up the Gorge de Luz on the D921 to Esquièze-Sère, where the intermediate sprint takes place.
The intermediate sprint at Esquièze-Sère comes with 70.1km raced.
Green jersey competition: from 20 points for 1st place down to 1 point to 15th place.
On the other side of the river Bastan to Esquièze-Sère is Luz-Saint-Sauveur.
This is the starting point for the Col du Tourmalet. It is tackled west to east in 2025, as it was in 2024, whereas on Stage 6 of the 2023 Tour it was east-west.
The altitude at the bottom of the Col du Tourmalet is 705m, and at the top it is 2,115m, giving a height gain of 1,410m over a distance of 19km. The average gradient is 7.4%.
The Col du Tourmalet is the highest mountain pass in the Pyrenees with a tarmacked road. (There are higher roads, and higher mountain passes, but no higher mountain pass with a road). It has been included in the Tour de France over 80 times.
Velopeloton says of the climb:
'The climb to the Col du Tourmalet is characterised by long straight stretches of road climbing at 8%+. There are a few steeper sections and also less steep sections down to 5%. Overall the gradient does not change very much and the difficulty of he climb is its length and altitude.
Out of Barèges the road ramps up to 13% and remains steep for 1.5km before the easiest section of the climb leading to the large car park at Tournaboup ski station
After Tournaboup the gradient rises again and remains steep for the whole 8km to the summit.'
Beyond Tournaboup is the ski resort of Super-Barèges, then the final couple of hairpins on the way to the top of the col.
At the top of the Col du Tourmalet, there's a memorial to Jacques Goddet, director of the Tour de France from 1936 to 1987.
Goddet went to a private school near Oxford in England.
His father Victor was a co-founder of L'Auto, the newspaper that initiated the Tour de France. Goddet became chief reporter. During World War II, L'Auto was too close to Nazi Germany, and it was shut down in 1944. Goddet launched a new paper, L'Equipe, in 1946, but his name was not permitted to be associated with it.
The first rider to get to the top wins the Souvenir Jacques Goddet prize - €5,000.
At the Tourmalet there's also a silver statue of a person on a bike, called le Géant du Tourmalet (main image at the top of the page). It could represent Octave Lapize, who was the first rider to get to the top of the Col du Tourmalet in the Tour de France in 1910.
There'll be no time to stop at the bar and restaurant.
These are highlights of Stage 14 of the 2024 Tour, which included a climb of the Tourmalet.
KOM competition at the Tourmalet: from 20 points for 1st place down to 2 points for 8th place.
Over the top of the Col du Tourmalet, the descent begins through La Mongie, a ski resort linked to Super-Barèges.
Where the road goes through La Mongie, a cable car departs for the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, a summit with an Observatory.
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The descent continues to Sainte-Marie-de-Campan in the valley. Here there's a statue of Eugène Christophe.
The statue of Eugène Christophe at Sainte-Marie-de-Campan references a famous event in 1913.
Christophe descended the Col du Tourmalet to Sainte-Marie. He was leading the Tour de France by 18 minutes, but his bike's forks broke about 10km from the village.
He walked down the rest of the way, and found a blacksmith's shop, where - because riders had to do all their own repairs - he mended the forks himself, according to the blacksmith's instructions. Christophe lost a lot of time, and was penalised more, because the blacksmith's boy had pumped the bellows for him.
As a result of the incident, Christophe lost his chance of winning the Tour. He finished seventh.
The Col d'Aspin has frequently been climbed from Arreau in the east in recent years. This time, it's tackled from Sainte-Marie-de-Campan in the west.
The riders pass Payolle on the ascent.
The climb is 5km at an average 7.6%.
The top of the Col d'Aspin is at 1,489m.
KOM competition at the Col d'Aspin: 5 points for 1st place, 3 points
for 2nd, 2 points for 3rd, and 1 point for 4th.
There's a descent to Arreau in the Vallée d'Aure.
Arreau is a village of 819 people, at the junction of the Aure and Louron valleys, and thus the confluence of the Neste d'Aure and the Neste du Louron. It's the historic capital of the Vallée d'Aure.
The building in the photograph is the Chateau de Ségure, with a C16th square tower, probably on the site of a C12th fortification.
Because Arreau is between the Col d'Aspin and the Col de Peyresourde, the Tour de France visits quite often.
From Arreau the race makes its way up the Neste de Louron to Anéron. Now the next climb, the Col de Peyresourde, begins.
The climb of the Col de Peyresourde is 7.1km at an average 7.8%. The height at the top is 1,569m.
KOM competition at the Peyresourde: from 10 points for 1st place down to 1 point for 6th place.
The Col de Peyresourde has featured in the Tour many times since Octave Lapize was first to the top in 1910.
On Stage 8 of the 2016 edition of the race, the riders tackled the Peyresourde from the west side (as they do in 2025). On the descent to the finish at Bagnères-de-Luchon, Chris Froome's crazy descending style won him much admiration and the stage.
No one will be descending like Froome this time because that technique has since been banned.
The descent from the Col de Peyresourde brings the race to Bagnères-de-Luchon.
Bagnères-de-Luchon is sometimes called 'the Queen of the Pyrenees'.
It's a spa resort, and has a ski resort above it, Superbagnères.
When Pompey was in the area in 76BC, one of his soldiers was suffering with a skin complaint. The man came and bathed in the thermal waters here and after 21 days, he was right as rain.
This cure must have been remembered by the Romans because in 25BC they built three baths, which were called balneum lixonense post Neapolitense primum (the best baths after those of Naples).
The baths were relaunched at the end of the 1700s, attracting European royalty and aristocracy. The arrival of the railway in 1873, and the opening of a casino in 1880, increased the popularity of Bagnères-de-Luchon.
Bagnères-de-Luchon has the privilege of being twinned with Harrogate, North Yorkshire (UK).
After Bagnères-de-Luchon, all that remains is the final climb to Superbagnères.
Stage 14 finishes with a climb to Luchon-Superbagnères.
The climb to Superbagnères is 12.4km at an average 7.5%, but Christian Prudhomme says that changes in gradient will mean that it is an opportunity for GC riders to attack.
The climb to Superbagnères was also the finale of Stage 13 of the 1986 Tour de France. Greg LeMond triumphed over Bernard Hinault.
KOM competition at the finish: from 20 points for 1st place down to 2 points for 8th place
Green jersey competition at the finish: from 20 points for 1st place down to 1 point for 15th place.
Time bonuses at the finish:
If Tadej Pogacar is on the same form as in 2024, he will be the favourite for Stage 14 of the 2025 Tour de France. Jonas Vingegaard will hope that he has better luck with injuries in 2025, and can re-establish dominance over his Slovenian rival.
Who do you think will win Stage 14 of the 2025 Tour de France?
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Luz means 'light' in Spanish.
Luz-Saint-Sauveur is at the junction of two valleys, so that the rays of the sun can reach it from three different directions at different times of the day.
Its position also means that it suffers from floods when the mountain streams meeting here overflow. The last time there were major floods was June 2013. There are also earthquakes from time to time.
Luz-Saint-Sauveur has thermal baths, which have been in use since the C16th. (The person waiting for them to be free is getting pretty fed up now).
Above Luz-Saint-Sauveur, on the slopes to the west, is the ski resort of Luz-Ardiden.
