Tour de France 2025 La Plagne is seeing double
The route of the 112th edition of the Tour de France has just been announced by the race organisers A.S.O. After a 23-year absence, it’s official: La Plagne is back on the ‘Grande Boucle’ for 2025. The dates have now been fixed: the euphoria of cycling will last for five days starting with the Étape du Tour and its 16,000 amateur racers on Sunday, 20 July, followed by the much-anticipated stage finish of the Tour de France on Friday, 25 July. This will be the pros last mountain stage before returning to the plain.
The last mountain stage
This highly anticipated stage of 130 kilometres and 4,500-meter elevation gain between Albertville and La Plagne will be 100% Savoyard. After four climbs and a final climb of 19.1 km and 24 hairpins, the riders will at last arrive at the summit finish in Plagne Villages, 2,052 m above sea level.
Thierry Gouvenou, the Tour de France race director, describes this stage as short with a real concentration of mountain features. For him, “It is also, and above all, the riders’ last chance to shake up the general rankings… or for the suspense to be over”.
Who will succeed Laurent Fignon, the winner in 1984 and 1987, Alex Zülle and Michael Boogerd, who won in 1995 and 2002 respectively?
A prepared and expected return
It is the fifth time in the resort’s history that it has hosted the Tour.
After a break of nearly two decades, La Plagne recently re-entered the arena of top cycling events in 2021 with the organisation of the arrival of a stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. A full-scale dress rehearsal gave the resort a chance to hone its skills and show that it wanted to be part of it.
Jean-Luc Boch, mayor of La Plagne Tarentaise, is thrilled to see the Tour coming back;
“For a return to the forefront of the cycling scene, having both the Étape du Tour and the stage finish is a dream scenario for our region! With our SUPER8 MTB event taking place 11 to 13 July and the surge of the Tour de France, we are going to see a real celebration of cycling. A dynamic that I would like to see last over time because, over and above the immediate benefits, I also see the Tour de France as a wonderful unifying showcase and an opportunity to change gear in the development of our summer cycling offer. I believe this even more strongly when I see that professional cycle teams (Alpecin-Deceuninck to name but one) are choosing La Plagne as the base camp for their altitude training. It is proof of the resort’s potential as a gateway to the rich offer of Alpine passes in the Tarentaise valley. More broadly, while La Plagne’s popularity in winter is well established with its ski area and Olympic bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track, the aim here is to strengthen its legitimacy as a summer destination. To achieve this, the mountain bike / e-mountain bike (e-MTB) offer, accessible to all, is one of the spearheads on which to capitalise, in particular the Plagne Centre bike park and the fun ‘E Spot’ circuits, where you ride your e-bike both up and down the slopes, which started off exclusively in La Plagne!”
Teaser La Plagne stage https://youtu.be/mLY8SMq4K-c
Imminent opening of pre-registrations for the Étape du Tour
The only cycle event on a closed road, the Etape offers amateur riders an opportunity to immerse themselves completely in the spirit of the Tour de France, following the same route as the riders of the Grande Boucle.
The week of pre-registration for the general public opens on 30 October and is available until 6 November on the Étape du Tour website.
Download road cycling pictures La Plagne
https://mediatheque.la-plagne.com/?F_id=670f61f027dad10d8c182b4f
