Tour de France to start in Lille in 2025

Northern city and region to host first French Grand Départ since 2021, with a Roubaix stage possible

11:54, Tuesday 14th November 2023

Matilda Price

Racing News Editor

The last time the Tour de France visited Lille it was for the start of 2022's 'Roubaix stage'

The Grand Départ of the 2025 Tour de France will take place in Lille and the surroundings of northern France, race organisers ASO confirmed on Tuesday.

The start in Lille will mark the first Grand Départ on home soil in four years by the time the 2025 race rolls around, with the race opting for foreign starts for three years in a row.

In 2022, the race started in Copenhagen, followed by the 2023 Grand Départ in the Spanish Basque Country, and the 2024 race is set to start in Florence in Italy.

Read more: Tour de France 2024 route revealed

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there were back-to-back French starts in 2020 and 2021, with the race kicking off in Nice and Brittany respectively. With the prevalence of foreign starts only growing since the first overseas visit in 1954, back-to-back French starts had become a rarity, and this was the first time it had happened in 15 years.

After using the post-pandemic Tours to pack in three consecutive foreign visits, the race will return to France in 2025 with the start in Lille. The opening stages – usually three in one region for a Grand Départ – will take place in the Hauts-de-France region, the Nord Départment and the Lille European Metropolis, ASO confirmed.

The start in Lille has been in the rumour mill for around a month now, with local news outlets reporting the possibility. Given the location, there have also been suggestions of an early Paris-Roubaix-style stage, with the famous velodrome and many of the race’s cobbled sectors sitting just a few kilometres outside of Lille.

The race may also head to the coast of the Nord Département with a stage visiting Dunkirk or Calais, in what could be a similar style to stage 4 of the 2022 Tour de France, won by Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) in exciting fashion.

A regular stop on the Tour de France, Lille has hosted the Grand Départ twice before, in 1960 and 1994. The last time the stage featured on the route was in 2022, hosting the start of a stage that headed to Arenberg and was very much a mini Paris-Roubaix day.

The full details of the stages of the 2025 Grand Départ will be announced on November 30 in Lille.

To find out more about the Tour de France, head to our dedicated race page.