The 2025 Tour de France is set to Swiss time

After a nine-year wait and the final participation of IAM Cycling, the Swiss public will once again be able to thrill to a team with a white cross at the Tour de France. The organizers of the world's greatest race have invited the Tudor Pro Cycling team for this 2025 edition, whose Grand Départ will take place Saturday in Lille.

The Lucerne team founded by Fabian Cancellera, former yellow jersey winner and eight-stage winner of the Tour de France, is coming forward with two headliners: the former double French world champion, Julian Alaphilippe (33 years old), and the Bernese revelation of the 2020 Tour de France, Marc Hirschi (26 years old).

The two leaders are aiming for a stage victory, the objective announced by the ProTeam (the second tier of international cycling). With seven flat stages, six hilly stages, six mountain stages – with five mountain finishes – and two time trials, the possibilities will be multiple and varied throughout the 3,338.8 km program.

It's almost an event: the 2025 Tour de France will be run exclusively on French soil. This is a first since the 2010 edition, which also took place exclusively within France. In total, eleven regions and 34 departments will be visited by the caravan. The 20th stage, between Nantua and Pontarlier, is the one whose route comes closest to the Swiss border. From 2026, the Tour de France will return abroad with a Grand Départ starting in Barcelona.

The 2025 edition marks the 50th anniversary of the very first finish on the Champs-Élysées. The tradition has continued year after year since then, with the exception of the last Tour de France, which ended in Nice due to the Olympic Games in the capital. The final stage, on July 27, promises to be exceptional, with the peloton passing up the Butte de Montmartre, similar to what was offered during last summer's Olympic road race.

Barring a major earthquake, the Slovenian-Danish hegemony will continue on French roads this year. Tadej Pogacar, three-time winner (2020, 2021, 2024) and defending champion, and Jonas Vingegaard, two titles to his name (2022, 2023), are the big favorites for this Tour. The former starts with a head start, having won the Dauphiné in mid-June ahead of his great rival. The good news: they haven't experienced any physical setbacks during their preparation.

184 riders will set off from Lille on Saturday. Within the peloton, five Swiss riders – but no French-speaking riders – will attempt to take the spotlight: Stefan Bissegger (26 years old, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) from Thurgau, Silvan Dillier (34 years old, Alpecin-Deceuninck) from Aargau, Mauro Schmid (25 years old, Jayco Alula) from Zurich, Fabian Lienhard (31 years old, Tudor Pro Cycling) from Zurich, and Marc Hirschi (26 years old, Tudor Pro Cycling) from Bern. Only the latter has already competed in the Tour de France.

Impatience is beginning to be felt in France. Since 1985 and Bernard Hinault's fifth and final triumph, no French rider has managed to win the Tour de France. And it's not this summer, exactly 40 years later, that the drought will end. "All the others would have to fall for a Frenchman to win the Tour," says the "Badger," who doesn't appreciate the state of mind of his compatriots. "Complaining is a sign of weakness. My remarks should have motivated them to prove me wrong."