Tour de France 2025: WEEK 3 "RIDE EVERY KILOMETRE" - Mont Ventoux, French Alps & Paris

We will meet you at Montpellier Airport or Montpellier Saint Roch Train Station and take you to your hotel nearby. 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 GTP musettes and discuss the logistics for the coming week.

An early breakfast is highly recommended to reach the Stage 16 finish but also to avoid as much of the Provencal heat as possible. The bald Giant of Provence will be easily identifiable in the flat Provencal landscape, and then kicks in near Bedoin. The classic route from here is the focus of Stage 16 and will already be lined with thousands of people. The first 5 km will be easy enough but thereafter it is an average of 8.8% for the next 15 km - ramps of 10% and under the hot midday sun. At the summit, savour your achievement and then descend to Malaucene and transfer to your next hotel.

TDF describes this as a flat route… GTP beg to differ! On leaving Bollene, you will avoid the populated and industrialised Rhone river valley and head out along country lanes into the forested hills of the Drome department. Elevations reach 480 m and then 643 m on Col de Boutiere. Descend towards the Rhone and back into the hills through beautiful dry summer forests and pastures before a flat hot ride into Valence on the banks of the Rhone river.

Today is the Queen Stage - 171 km with over 5,500 m ascent!! Starting early, you will leave the Rhone valley and head towards Allemond, so close to Alpe d’Huez but instead climb the stunning Col du Glandon - 26.6 km | 1,471 m ascent (with a false summit) and an average gradient of 5%. Then a long 21 km descent to La Chambre before straight onto the heartbreaking Col de la Madeleine - just under 18 km and a total ascent of 1,420 m…which means steeper, 8.8% average. Enjoy the 26 km descent because around the 150 km mark the climbing restarts - 26 km, an average of 6% but some steeper sections and a total ascent of 1,588 m. Truly a monster day!

The final mountain stage of the TDF and no break from yesterday. Although only 130 km, the total ascent is more than 4,600 m. Classic climbs over Cote d’Hery-sur-Ugine (1,004 m), Col des Saisies (1,650 m), Col du Pré (1,748 m), Cormet de Roselend (1,968 m) and finally the ski resort finish at La Plagne 2000 (2,052 m). The steepest climb is hands down Col du Pré with an average of 7.9% over 12 km. There is respite near the centre but thereafter increasingly steeper ramps reaching 15%. The climb to La Plagne will be tough as the longest (19 km) and highest and last climb of this stage.

Everything is relative, so after yesterday, this is an ‘easy’ day… only about 2,900 m total elevation through the French Jura mountains! The highest point on the route is shortly after the departure, Col de la Croix de la Serra at 1,049 m. Never reaching the 1,000 m again, the route rolls through the Jura to Champagnole, Salles-les-Bains and finally to Pontarlier. Mellow and manageable. Immediately after arrival, the team will transfer you to the closest TGV station for a fast train to Paris.

The 112th Tour de France returns to Paris after finishing in Nice in 2024. You have the day to enjoy a flat ride from Mantes-la-Ville into Paris Champs-Elysées. Perhaps a chance to enjoy a celebratory glass of champagne before the Champs-Elysées circuit? On completion, the team will ensure photos are taken and then back at the hotel you can relax and at dinner recognise your achievement.

Sleep in - you deserve it! Enjoy a leisurely breakfast. The roads in Paris will be restricted or closed to all traffic but if you are feeling it, a short morning can be arranged outside the TDF zones. The GTP team will make arrangements to escort you to the premium TDF Finish Line VIP Zone, one to enjoy time mingling with other fans, officials and former pros - big screens, hor d'oeuvres, and the requisite French wine and beer will be available. Then join everyone to watch and cheer the sprinters across the Stage 21 Arrivée, followed by the teams and winner of the TDF. When the presentations are complete, the team will take you to your final celebratory dinner.

Six stages of the Tour de France, France’s premier sporting event. A week with the classic climbs of the French Alps, including the Provencal windy mountain, Mont Ventoux. And the Stage 21 back in Paris.

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 Paris Airport for your flight home or to your next destination.