Tour Type
Tour de France REK
Riding Level
Avid
Location
Northern France
Duration
12 days | 11 nights | 10 stages
Length
1,683 + km
Climb
8,000 + m
North western France will be home to the first 10 stages of the 2025 Tour de France. Mainly flat and hilly, these routes follow a course through beautiful rolling countryside, to coastal resorts and many ancient and UNESCO protected cities. Only one challenging mountain stage. This ‘Week 1’ is a perfect starting point to "Ride Every Kilometre" - a chance to ride the same route as the pros before they hit the Pyrenees and French Alps barriers.
Without dwelling on the pain and exhaustion of climbing cols, you will be able to enjoy the sights and history of this region as well as delight in the regional cuisines of Hauts de France, Normandy and Brittany – think seafood, French gastronomy, wine, beer and cider. Throughout the Grand Depart stages, you will ride past well tended war cemeteries lined with rows of white crosses from WW1 and into Dunkerque the scene of the mass evacuation of troops at the beginning of WW2. This region has seen catastrophic devastation in the 20th century – hard to imagine now. Then into Normandy and the WW2 D-Day memorials as well as the spectacular cities with histories closely linked to England. Brittany, a celtic region with prehistoric sites, beautiful forts and towns on coasts, and beaches for refreshing dips.
The Grand Tours Project “Ride Every Kilometre” (REK) provides support and guidance along the full race route the day before the race. This avoids the pre-dawn starts, the race to pass before the roads close, to avoid the crowds in the cities and ascents.
For the professional riders, the route is 1,683 kilometres long, and several thousand metres vertical – for Grand Tours Project REK riders, it’s the same and possibly more.
Are you ready to join us and ride every kilometre of the Tour de France Northern France ‘Week 1’ – 10 stages from Lille to the Massif Central?
Shorter trip
We will meet you at Brussels Airport and take you to your hotel in Lille. After check in, we will help assemble your bike or fit you to your rental bike and if there is time, set out on a welcome ride to stretch the legs and test the bikes. Back at the hotel we will meet for pre-dinner drinks to present the Grand Tours Project cycling kit and discuss the logistics for the coming week. We can also provide access to the Tour de France Team Presentations.
Straight after breakfast you are on the road riding the same Stage 1 route as the pros will do the next day. Deemed a sprinter’s stage – it will be fast and furious. The ride will be flat except for a few bumps totalling the elevation gain to just under 1,000 metres. Picturesque and easy, a nice start to the TDF Week 1 Ride Every Kilometre. Back in Lille you have time to relax and enjoy the ambiance of Lille.
A long stage, again through picturesque rolling countryside to the pretty coast facing the Strait of Dover. The final 30 kilometres provides 3 climbs, and although not in the same category as the Alps and Pyrenees, they are short and steep – Côte du Haut Pichot is one kilometre at 10.3% and Côte de Saint-Etienne-au-Mont, also one kilometre averages at 9% and reaches 15% in gradient. Definitely lung busting and the next day, these climbs will shake up the peloton. Enjoy an ice cream at the seaside and then be transferred to Valenciennes. If there is time, the GTP team will take you back to Lille to enjoy the TDF Stage 1 Arrivée spectacle.
Continuing the theme of this region, another stage of flat riding with a return to Cote de Cassel as the sole category climb but from a different route. A day to enjoy but possibly windy as you approach the coast and Dunkerque. If there is time, you can visit the Dunkirk Beach Memorial and if the weather is warm, dive into the refreshing sea before a transfer to Amiens.
Outside of Amiens is pretty much flat riding but a high risk of crosswinds. The peloton the next day will be on closed roads, and creating echelons, lines of riders sheltering from the wind, fanning out across the road, is probably not possible for you. To add a degree of challenge, the final climb (wall) during the winding route in Rouen, Rampe Saint-Hilaire reaches 15%!
Enjoy a sleep in and consider this a rest day – only 33 km and very flat. After the ride you can enjoy some time wandering the streets – in 2025, Caen will celebrate 1,000 years of existence. A transfer will take you to the vicinity of Bayeux where you can rest and relax for the rest of the day.
Don’t be deceived – although not in the alpine regions, today is tough. Two hundred and one kilometres across Normandy’s hilly terrain will tally close to 3,500 metres of climbing over several short climbs. And to top it, the 700 metre finish in Vire Normandie is a ramp of 10 % – there is a good chance of heartbreak the next day.
Now in Bretagne, the north western region with a strong celtic identity and the riding grounds of Bernard Hinault. The race route heads inland from impressive Saint Malo to Dinan before heading back to the coast, through Hinault’s hometown, Yffiniac. Stunning vistas will provide adequate distraction until the final challenge – Mur-de-Bretagne – twice! With an average of 6.5%, the steepest section reaches 13% and the summit will be a welcome sight.
The route today is classified as flat, and the profile supports the claim. However, the elevation gain is still significant for the average rider without team or peloton support – approximately 1,400 metres! Laval was last visited in 2021 when Tadej Pogacar won the ITT and it is the birthplace of Jacky Durand, a TDF stage winner in the 1990s.
Yet another flat day ! ‘Only’ 1,300 metres of elevation today. Fans of Mark Cavendish will recall that his first TDF stage win was here in Chateauroux in 2008 and in 2011 … and again in 2021! Sprinting is the theme on the flat routes and no exception here.
After 9 flat and hilly stages, the Tour’s first mountain stage, it pulls no punches. Heading into the Massif Central from Ennezat, there seven category climbs and several in between totalling over 4,300 metres. The final 3.3 kilometres at 8.8 % climb to the Puy de Sancy summit from Le Mont-Dore is the toughest and once reached, a relief. Best advice for today, steady and dogged. On completion, a quick celebratory drink and then the long transfer to Toulouse.
Ten stages of the Tour de France, France’s premier sporting event. A long ‘week’ but flat and hilly and a short ITT midway, until finally mountain Stage 10.
The GTP team will support and encourage you to complete your goal to Ride Every Kilometre. If you don’t, no problem, you will have tasted a small part of what the pros experience and you can always return and test yourself again in future Tours.
The team will assist you in checking out and take you to Toulouse Airport for your flight home or to your next destination.
The “Ride Every Kilometre” tours will give you the opportunity to ride the entire journey – every single kilometre – with your friends. You can choose to ride 3, 6, 9 or even all 21 stages of the race. You and your companions will need to be strong cyclists to achieve this challenge, but you don’t need to be a pro athlete … ours is a journey, not a race, and we’ll leave enough time on each day to enjoy our lunch breaks and photo stops. This tour is designed to ride 24 hours prior to the official Tour de France stage.
For our “Ride Every Kilometre” tours:
What’s Not Included?
