The 1st step: an appointment for sprinters
If the 21st and last stage of this Tour de France, with the three passages by the Butte Montmartre in tribute to the 2024 Olympic Games, was criticized by the sprinters who saw their chances of winning on the Champs-Élysées are reduced considerably, the first lifting of this 2025 edition will give them pride of place. It is not the three small ribs scattered along the 184.9 km (Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Cassel, Mont Noir) that will tip the race.
The big arms of the gear are therefore expected on the finish line in Lille, from where this stage will also leave, to explain each other. A great opportunity especially for the Eritrean sprinter Biniam Girmay, the first African runner to win the points classification of the Tour de France and former of the Marseille training Nippo -Delko One Provence, to win – almost – at home. His training, Intermarché-Wanty, is based on the Belgian border, in Tournai, just 25 km from the capital of Flanders.
Lille, 1st big French departure since 2021
This is one of the recurring criticisms made on the Tour de France and his boss, Christian Prudhomme. Over the past twenty years, the major departures of the Grande Boucle outside France have multiplied. The opportunity for Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), the owner of the race, to do a very lucrative financial operation (the sums of 10 million euros for Copenhagen in 2022 and 12M € in Bilbao in 2023 are mentioned) at the risk, too, of disappointing the French public.
Since 2007 and London, there have been ten major departures outside France, including three in the last three years with Denmark, Spain and Italy (Florence). So, this start in the North would constitute almost an exception since the last French city to have had this pleasure was Brest in 2021 in the COVID context. Just a parenthesis since in 2026 and 2027 the Tour de France will start from Barcelona (Spain) and Edinburgh (Scotland) for the 27th and 28th great departures abroad since 1958.
2.3 million euros in distributed premiums
Winning the Tour de France, like any other Grail Sportif, remains above all a question of prestige. But this performance is also nicely paid by the organization of the race through its prize-money. This year, as in 2024, it is € 2,305,250, a sum that encompasses both bonuses for the general classification, distinctive jerseys, stages or intermediate sprints. Winning the big loop will therefore bring € 500,000 to its happy winner, € 200,000 in the 2nd and 100,000 € in the 3rd. The price for the gain of a step is set at 11,000 euros, that of a distinctive jersey at € 25,000.
Last year, just with his results, Tadej Pogacar alone had € 621,180 in total. But, as it is customary, this sum is not covered individually by the runner since the premiums are redistributed between the teammates of the same team. Primordial for runners at another time of cycling, these gains have been less in recent years given the inflation of wages for the biggest stars. For example, the emoluments of the Slovenian of UAE Emirates XRG would be around 8 million euros per year.
