Lille to Host Grand Départ 2025
The Tour de France 2025 will start with a Grand Départ in Lille-Nord de France.
According to a Tweet by the official Tour de France account, the Grand Départ 2025 will be in:
- the Hauts de France region
- the Département du Nord (59) and
- the Lille European Metropolis
The Hauts de France is a region which includes several départements – Nord, Pas de Calais, Somme, Oise and Aisne.
The Métropole Européene de Lille, or Lille European Metropolis, is within the département du Nord and is the wider urban area of Lille. It includes Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Villeneuve d’Ascq and Armentieres, and its population is 1.17 million.
The organisers have produced a short video to promote the Grand Départ 2025.
See you on November, 30th! 👀
— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) November 14, 2023
Rendez-vous le 30 novembre ! 👀#TDF2025 l @hautsdefrance l @departement59 l @MetropoleLille pic.twitter.com/r0zQVUOm1b
Details of the stages in Lille-Nord de France are due to be announced on 30th November 2023.
Since Roubaix is within the Lille European Metropolis, one of the stages could feature cobbled sections and/or a finish in the Roubaix velodrome. Stage 5 of the 2022 Tour from Lille to Arenberg took in cobbles. Simon Clarke just beat Taco van der Hoorn to the stage win.
There is also speculation that there could be a stage similar to Stage 4 of the 2022 Tour de France from Dunkirk to Calais. That featured Cap Blanc Nez. A section of the Cap Blanc Nez cliff collapsed last week after heavy rain.
Wout van Aert won Stage 4 of the 2022 Tour in spectacular style.
2025 is the first Grand Départ on French soil since Brest and Brittany in 2021.