The Tour de France 2025 kicked off yesterday, ending the (painful) wait for millions of cycling fans round the world.
Until 2014, Le Tour opened with a mini time trial known as the Prologue, a tradition which has barely featured for the last ten years.
Race Director, Christian Prudhomme, in attempting to introduce some variety to the event, decided to do away with the time-honoured opener in favour of a standard stage. This was, and still is, a controversial move, but it does at least avoid the three-week race ending up with a rider claiming yellow after the Grand Depart, and keeping it until Paris.
Stage One saw the peloton of 184 riders contest a windy 184.9 km route, starting and finishing in the northern French city of Lille.
The favorites for this year’s Le Tour include Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, all of whom chose to ride out the opening day in relative safety. The risk of crashing is high, and for a professional targetting a podium finish, an extra few seconds or one more day in yellow doesn’t represent a good risks-to-rewards ratio, compared to a solid finish in one piece.
Sadly, two riders have already abandoned the Tour de France 2025, one of whom the powerful Italian Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers, a rider whose contribution many believe could have had an impact. Joining him is the Swiss cyclist, Stefan Bisegger, both sad yet inevitable casualties of one of the toughest sporting events there is.
Pogacar and Vingegaard ‘lost’ ten seconds to the stage winner, Belgian Jasper Philipsen, although anybody who follows Le Tour will know that this means nothing. Few will expect Philipsen to retain his first maillot jaune for more than a handful of days.
Instead, with the race set to reach the mountains in Week Two, those who wear the iconic yellow jersey in Week One will be likely to see it as a career highlight. Before the big boys take over the contest in the Massif Central mountain range, a day (or two) as race leader is considered an enormous honour in this sport. Philipsen has already joined a very exclusive club.
Meanwhile, yesterday’s opening stage was a topsy-turvy affair with riders competing for more than the yellow jersey. Points were also up for grabs for the green jersey and the famous polka dot one, which goes to the King of the Mountains, both in themselves great achievements.
Not much can be said about the leaderboards with the race only 5% complete, but the Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay will be hoping to repeat his points victory of 2024. This made him the first African to win any jersey at Le Tour, upon which he became a legend in his home country.
Placing second on Day One behind Philipsen himself is a statement of intent from Girmay, the carpenter’s son from Asmara. Many will be hoping he can do it again, while competing for the overall classification is likely to prove beyond him, given the superiority of the riders targetting it.
The sprint to the line yesterday, always nerve-wracking for those watching, went to Jasper Philipsen with his front wheel crossing the line four seconds ahead of that of Girmay. Other notable riders lost time to the race favorites, Primoz Roglic among them, as he finished 39 seconds behind his countryman Pogacar.
Like many fans, I miss the Prologue, a stage which meant that the level of competitiveness was high from Day One. The cautious approach the best riders have to the earlier, flat, and I daresay, processional stages is understandable, although it dilutes the excitement a touch.
It is also commendable that the organisers of Le Tour give the other guys a chance too, rather than the entire three-week event being about the same two cyclists. Let’s be honest, the sponsors pay a lot to associate with these teams, and with more than the yellow jersey at stake, it is only fair to give others the opportunity to get their logos on screens round the world.
No, the opening stage yesterday didn’t disappoint. So many serious enthusiasts don’t give more than a perfunctory glance at the first week of Le Tour, because it really doesn’t get going until they reach the mountains.
When they do, they give us all something to marvel at.
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