There are two stages left in the 2025 Tour de France. The last one, in Paris, has the added attraction of a route that debuted at the Olympic Games, passing through the steep, cobbled streets of Montmartre. The penultimate stage, this Saturday between Nantua and Pontalier, requires a little scrutiny to reveal its beauty. It is a leg-breaking day in the Jura mountains, a hidden gem on the French-Swiss border north of the Alps. This is where some memorable days of the Grande Boucle have been experienced. In Champagnole (km 93.9), a stage decided by a late and powerful breakaway by names such as Sagan, Van Avermaet and Trentin at his peak, was won by Soren Kragh Andersen in 2020. Pontarlier itself witnessed, 24 years ago, one of the special breakaways that made the race back in the days. Under a curtain of rain, François Simon got to dress in yellow and the late Kazakh Andrei Kivilev gained enough time to come close to the podium in Paris.
The most important factor in interpreting the race will be the hunger of the 14 teams that have yet to celebrate a victory in this Tour de France. There are those, such as Movistar and Groupama-FDJ, who have gone a whopping six years without a win (since 2019); or Tudor, with Hirschi, Alaphilippe and Trentin, who are hoping not to come away empty-handed on their debut; and there are also cases such as Intermarché-Wanty, chasing the evanescent glory they lived with Biniam Girmay last year. These will be the main contenders looking to take advantage of the early climbs to the Col de la Croix de la Serra (cat. 3, km 24.7) and the Côte de Valfin (cat. 4, km 45.1) to form a breakaway favourable to their strengths. The weather, with storms expected from the middle of the stage onwards, will do its part to make it a chaotic day full of moments to savour before the Tour, once again, slips through our fingers.
