Tour de France 2025: Week 2 "Experience" - PYRENEES & MASSIF CENTRAL

Welcome to France and the second week of the Tour de France. The GTP team will collect you from Lyon and transfer you to Clermont-Ferrand in the Massif Central. Our team will help you reassemble your bike or finesse the fitting of your rental bike and providing there is time, setting out on a Welcome Ride to stretch the legs and test the bikes. Back at the hotel the team will discuss the plan and logistics for the next few days over an apéro, followed by your first dinner together.

The TDF Stage 10 route passes through Clermont-Ferrand so you will start riding after breakfast directly from your hotel. Pass through the city streets along the route and into the lush volcanic landscape and national park. The route rolls over several cols, each higher than the previous. Nothing too strenuous but the elevation gain adds up - the support van will be nearby to assist if the ride becomes too much. The final climb to Puy de Saucy after a day in the saddle will test your endurance with an average of 8%! Near the Arrivée, GTP will have a private hospitality tent for you to recover and watch the riders pass by. As soon as the rodes reopen, you will be transferred to Aurillac.

It is rest day for the Tour de France riders and so to break up the long journey south, the GTP route designers decided to revisit a highlight of the 2024 TDF Stage 11. Riding directly from your hotel, you will climb up to Puy Mary Pas de Peyrol (1,589 m), then up the more challenging country road to Col de Pertus (1,310 m) before returning down the parallel valley back into Aurillac. On arrival in Aurillac, the team will transfer you to Toulouse.

Two mountain days completed. There is an optional early morning ride along part of the race route before the roads are closed followed by a leisurely lunch. After watching the teams ride away from the Stage 11 Depart, the GTP team will transfer you to Lourdes where you can relax or perhaps venture out for a short ride in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

Two options today - ride from Lourdes to the base of Hautacam and ride the route to the summit and finish; or a quick transfer to Asson and follow the last 75 km of the route to the summit crossing over the official Arrivée, mount the TDF Winners' Podium and then enter TDF VIP Hospitality Lounge to watch and cheer the pros arrive. When everything has calmed down, you can ride back to the hotel in Lourdes (all downhill) or opt for a transfer.

Preparation for the ITT climb means the road will be closed. Instead, the team have designed a route from Lourdes to the Tourmalet summit - fans will already have camped out along the route in anticipation of Stage 14, so you may experience enthusiastic encouragement. From Luz-Saint-Sauveur, the climb is 20 km and 1,400 m of ascent. The steepest pitch is about 14% but on average the climb is about 7.5%. A challenge but well worth it. Once you finish the ride, the team will transfer you to the TDF VIP Depart Village & Team Paddock where you will enjoy the ITT announcements and starts and watch the race on the big screen. You will then be transferred back to your hotel.

The racers will be climbing almost 5,000 m today - Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde and finally Luchon-Superbagneres. You have already climbed Tourmalet so the team have designed a route that bags 2 more cols from this stage. First up, from either Lourdes or Sainte-Marie-de-Campan you will summit Col d’Aspin (1,489 m) before descending to Arreau After a short break, start the ascent to Peyresourde (1,569 m) - 20 km with an easy gradient before it steepens towards the col. The team will find an optimal place for you to watch the pros climbing and past you. When the crowds disperse, the team will gather you up and transfer you to your new hotel in Toulouse.

The final day of riding and you will find yourself in the south western corner of the Massif Central - Montagne Noire - with views across the Carcassonne Aude valley to the Pyrenees. Starting in Revel you'll ride into this beautiful mountain range and once a stronghold of the Cathars. You will finish beneath the walls of the imposing and famous mediaeval Carcassonne walls and enter teh TDF Relais Etape VIP Hospitality area to watch the finish, before your transfer back to Toulouse. The team will farewell you here after finalising arrangements for your airport transfers the next day.

We recommend that you book an afternoon flight to allow you a sleep in, a leisurely continental breakfast and perhaps last minute shopping. The GTP Team will have made arrangements for your hotel airport shuttles.

If the Grand Tours Project Tour de France Week 2 ticks your boxes - up to 7 mountain climbs, riding on sections of the official race route with fans cheering you on, access to TDF VIP hospitality areas at the stage starts and finishes, immersed with crowds to feel the passion, dining and quaffing French cuisine, wines and beers, enjoying the camaraderie of friends family or new friends - then contact us here.