The 2025 Tour de France Femmes will run for nine stages in what will be its longest edition yet, race organizer ASO announced on Monday.
While the men’s race will roll out from Lille in the Nord department, Brittany will host the women’s Grand Départ, with three stages set to take place in the region in the northwestern corner of France.
The first stage will run from Vannes to Plumelec in what is expected to be a day for the puncheurs. Next up is a stage from Brest to Quimper, and then stage 3 of the Tour de France Femmes will roll out from La Gacilly bound for an as-of-yet unannounced finishing town outside of Brittany.
The expansion to nine stages marks another step in the evolution of the event that first came into existence as an eight-stage race in 2022 when it replaced La Course by Tour de France, a one-day race run from 2014-2021.
“It’s a strong message that we’re sending, which shows that the race is growing at the same pace as the evolution of women’s cycling, that it’s working and that we’re on the right track,” said race director Marion Rousse of the bump up to nine stages.
Rousse also did not fully discount the possibility of further lengthening the event, although she tempered any expectations that that might happen soon.
“Above all we must not go faster than the evolution of women’s cycling, that would be nonsense,” she said. “We’re already going from eight to nine days and then we’ll see in a few years.”
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