Tour de France 2025: 4 Stories To Watch In The Final Week
After over 2000 kilometers of the racing, the men's 2025 Tour de France is heading into its final week of action, with just six stages left until this year's winner is crowned Sunday, July 27th on the Champs-Élysées. World champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) has dominated this year's race and seems set for a fourth Tour de France title ahead of his main rival Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Pogačar has shown little weakness so far this Tour, which may make it feel like the fight for the yellow jersey has all but wrapped up, even though the peloton has not rolled into Paris yet. However, there are still plenty of storylines worth following through the final week of the Tour.
1. Tadej Pogačar Looks To Write A New Chapter In The Alps
Slovenian Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates and Danish Jonas Vingegaard Hansen of Team Visma-Lease ... More a Bike pictured in action during stage 12 of the 2025 Tour de France cycling, from Auch to Hautacam (181 km), on Thursday 17 July 2025 in France. The 112th edition of the Tour de France starts on Saturday 5 July in Lille, France, and will finish in Paris, France on the 27th of July. BELGA PHOTO POOL VINCENT KALUT (Photo by POOL VINCENT KALUT / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP) (Photo by POOL VINCENT KALUT/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)
Barring disaster, Pogačar is on his way to a fourth Tour de France title. But disaster has struck for the Slovenian before, and this year's Tour de France route returns to three climbs where Pogačar has cracked in previous editions: Hautacam, Mont Ventoux, and Col de la Loze.
'This year, the parcours was…I'm almost confident to say that it was designed to give me a bit of scaredness, because we've been to Hautacam and we are going to Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze, where Jonas has dropped me all three times,' Pogačar told reporters during a rest day press conference, per Domestique Cycling.
Pogačar has already exorcised his demons on Hautacam, winning the summit finish on stage 12 and taking two minutes and ten seconds on Jonas Vingegaard, who beat Pogačar on the climb three years ago to seal his 2022 Tour de France win.
As Pogačar said, Vingegaard has also shaken him off on Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze. But so far, Vingegaard, a two-time Tour de France winner, has been unable to match Pogačar's form this season. Pogačar holds a significant four minute and thirteen second advantage on Vingegaard heading into the final week of the Tour, where the peloton faces Mont Ventoux on Stage 16 and Col de la Loze on Stage 18.
In his rest day press conference, Pogačar refused to call his ambitions for the final week a revenge tour. 'I will not say that I'm looking for revenge or something, I just want to have better legs than those two days in the past. That's all, I'm looking forward to it.'
Still, these are iconic climbs in the cycling world, beyond the role they have played in Pogačar's career. Even if he is not out for revenge, it is unlikely that Pogačar won't want to continue his dominance this Tour and add winning on these ascents to his resumé.
2. Young Contenders Vie For Third Place In Tour de France
ROUEN, FRANCE - JULY 08: (L-R) Florian Lipowitz of Germany and Team Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe and ... More Dylan Teuns of Belgium and Team Cofidis compete during the 112th Tour de France, Stage 4 a 174.2km stage from Amiens Metropole to Rouen / #UCIWT / on July 08, 2025 in Rouen, France. (Photo by Tim)
Though Vingegaard has been unable to ride Pogačar off his wheel through two weeks of racing, he has consolidated a strong hold on second place. It seems likely that Pogačar and Vingegaard will occupy the top two steps of the podium in Paris once again. But behind them, there is an intense race on for third. That battle ignited during week two when Remco Evenepoel, last year's third-place finisher and white jersey winner (given to the best young rider), was dropped early on the first stage in the Pyrenees. Evenepoel abandoned the race two days later, vacating his third-place in the general classification.
Now, it is Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Oscar Onley (Picnic PostNL), and Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) sitting third through fifth. All three are eligible for the white jersey, making this the most thrilling fight for the young riders' classification we have seen in over five years.
So far, Lipowitz has proven the strongest of these three. He is a minute and 23 seconds ahead of Onley and two minutes and 28 seconds ahead of Vauquelin. But this is Lipowitz's first Tour and the second for Onley and Vauquelin. They are early in their careers, meaning there is still lots of experience for them to gain and plenty for fans to learn about them. So, as the race heads towards the Alps, there are still outstanding questions about how these three will perform in the final stages of the biggest bike race in the world. These three round out the top five behind Pogačar and Vingegaard, but if inexperience catches up to them, Grand Tour winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) lurks sixth just thirteen seconds behind Vauquelin.
Third in the Tour would be the biggest result of all their careers so far and a huge boost for all their teams. So, while Lipowitz holds the advantage, expect Onley and Vauquelin to try and challenge him. They should be some of the main animators of the mountain stages this week. Even if the podium slips away, they will still be fighting to wear the white jersey in Paris--a worthy prize itself.
3. A Strange Battle For The Green Jersey
Lidl - Trek team's Italian rider Jonathan Milan celebrates on the podium with the best sprinter's ... More green jersey after the 3rd stage of the 112th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 178.3 km between Valenciennes and Dunkerque (Dunkirk), Northern France, on July 7, 2025. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
Typically, the winner of the points classification is a sprinter. But this year could see a different type of rider prevail. Lidl-Trek's Jonathan Milan, a traditional sprinter, currently wears the jersey, having accumulated 251 points. But his grip on the classification is tenuous, as Pogačar, the race leader, sits only 28 points behind the Italian sprinter. Further, Mathieu van der Poel, the former world champion and arguably the best Classics rider in the current peloton, is 41 points behind Milan after his teammate Jasper Philipsen crashed out of the race on stage three.
Riders earn points in the green jersey classification at intermediate sprints—which happen somewhere on the stage's route—and the stage finish. Intermediate sprints always give 20 points to the first rider across the line and award out to 15 riders. Points available at the stage's finish vary based on a coefficient of difficulty: the more challenging the stage, the fewer points available.
The green jersey was not Pogačar's primary goal at this Tour, but thanks to four stage wins and high placement on several other stages, it is within his grasp. He is likely not done earning points either, as he is surely eyeing at least one more stage victory. The green jersey was not what wanted Pogačar wanted out of this Tour, but he could take advantage of this strange year to claim the only jersey at the Tour he has yet to win.
Similarly, van der Poel was not targeting the green jersey. Even after Philipsen's crash, he let several intermediate sprints go uncontested, but his explosive racing over the second week has kept him in the mix anyway. He has since gotten involved in a couple of intermediate sprints, which has put him on 210 points.
Thus, the pressure is on Lidl-Trek to perfect their tactics for the final week. They need to carefully monitor early breakaways to ensure Milan can pick up points in the intermediate sprints of the difficult mountain stages where he will not compete with Pogačar and the climbers for a stage victory.
While Pogačar is in full control of the general classification, the green jersey race could come down to the final stage and a reworked route in Paris that echoes the 2024 Olympics road race by heading up Montmartre—a course that favors van der Poel and Pogačar rather than Milan.
4. Dwindling Chances For A Tour De France Stage Win
LE MONT-DORE PUY DE SANCY, FRANCE - JULY 14: Simon Yates of Great Britain and Team Visma | Lease a ... More Bike celebrates at finish line as stage winner during the 112th Tour de France 2025, Stage 10 a 165.3km stage from Ennezat to Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy (Super Sancy) 1318m / #UCIWT / on July 14, 2025 in Le Mont-Dore Puy de Sancy, France. (Photo by)
Not every team arrives at the Tour de France with general classification dreams. Plenty of teams—particularly smaller-budget teams—spend the Tour hunting for stage win glory. Some teams have already achieved this goal; EF Education-EasyPost's Ben Healy won stage six before spending two days in the yellow jersey, and Jonas Abrahamsen earned Uno-X Mobility's first Tour stage win in team history on stage 11.
But there are plenty of teams without a stage win or anything to show for this year, and there are only six more opportunities for these teams to make it happen. With the pressure ramping up, the fight to get in each day's breakaway will further intensify, especially with the green jersey race complicating break formation.
Visma-Lease a Bike is also getting involved in stage hunting. The team came to the Tour aiming to win the general classification. It will be a tough ask for Vingegaard to achieve that goal, but he is a comfortable second place and the team still need to protect that placement. But, team tactics from the end of week two show the team is also interested in adding to their stage win tally after Giro d'Italia winner Simon Yates claimed stage ten.
Those two goals aren't always compatible, as the team was under pressure on stage 15, as the team's stage hunters remained in a group ahead of Vingegaard, who got caught behind a crash. The super-team has a deep well of talent on this year's Tour roster and are clearly turning to the likes of Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, and Sepp Kuss to find other successes to take away from this race if Vingegaard cannot beat Pogačar.
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Nobody tells Steve (Parish) what to do, he's as stubborn as anybody.' Palace, no doubt, will say the only player to be transferred between them and Lyon was centre-back Jake O'Brien in 2023: beyond some young players going on loan to Molenbeek (including O'Brien, earlier in his career), they had no other transactions with an Eagle Football Group club, despite Textor's frequent suggestions. Advertisement But Dr Gregory Ioannidis, an experienced campaigner at CAS and an associate professor at Sheffield Hallam University, is not sure this will be enough to sway the panel. He believes Palace will try to argue that a 'more flexible and purposeful interpretation of the regulations' should be applied, with the club's lawyers asking the panel to think about what UEFA is trying to achieve with its MCO rules, fair competition, and whether the English side pose any threat to that legitimate aim. 'But if the panel decides the rules are clear, and therefore a strict and literal approach needs to be applied, the chances for a successful appeal will be minimised,' explains Ioannidis. While each case is considered on its own merits, precedents can be helpful, and two CAS panels have recently made very quick decisions on MCO cases involving Slovakian team FC DAC 1904 and Drogheda United from the Republic of Ireland. Both were blocked from playing in the Conference League by the CFCB and then lost their appeals, DAC unanimously and Drogheda on a majority verdict. The two cases were different but both argued they simply did not have enough time to create the separation UEFA requires between them and their MCO sister clubs. As MCO groups have proliferated across Europe, UEFA has given owners two options: reduce your stake in one of the clubs that want to compete in the same competition to less than 30 per cent, step down as a director and halt whatever player-trading strategy you are pursuing with the two teams, or put one of into a blind trust, so you have no influence over day-to-day operations. Crucially, UEFA moved the deadline for doing one or the other of these workarounds from early June to March 1. DAC, Drogheda and Palace all missed this memo. However, in both the DAC and Drogheda cases, the CAS panels backed UEFA. Advertisement 'What is of immense importance here is the panels' findings that the current regulations do not require evidence of actual influence, but rather only the possibility of such influence,' says Ioannidis. 'This, in conjunction with the finding on the procedural aspect of submitting the changes in the club's ownership structure on time (or not), may cause serious difficulties for those arguing Palace's case.' Parish has explained in recent interviews that Palace were too busy playing Championship neighbours Millwall in the last 16 of the FA Cup on March 1 to be thinking about what might happen if they were to win the whole thing and play in Europe for the first time in their history, but Duval says the deadline argument is doomed. 'It seems to me that a possible argument about the new deadline has already been rejected, thus the main focus will probably be on whether Textor had decisive influence,' he says. And while Palace will come armed with evidence that shows Textor was routinely ignored, UEFA's lawyers will no doubt point to the letter CFCB chair Sunil Gulati sent to the club licensing managers at UEFA's 55 member associations last May which spells out what 'decisive influence' means. A literal reading of that document — the 30 per cent shareholding threshold, significant financial support, being a director, the ability to influence recruitment decisions and so on — would suggest Palace's legal team are going to have their work cut out. Given all that, it might make sense for Palace to make a more general argument that a strict application of the rules in this case simply make no sense, as there is obviously no threat to the integrity of the competition, which is the entire point of article 5.01 in UEFA's rulebook, the regulation that deals with MCO clubs. And there is some encouragement here, in that the concepts of fairness, integrity and sporting justice are all enshrined in Swiss law. But there are risks attached to this approach, too. 'Swiss law does protect such principles and both CAS and the Swiss Federal Tribunal (where any appeals over a CAS verdict are heard but rarely upheld) have ruled accordingly,' says Ioannidis. 'However, I wouldn't run this argument, because the panel may take the view that it is precisely for these principles that UEFA's decision may be upheld, as the other clubs in the competition acted promptly and ensured they followed the rules and deadlines.' Advertisement That said, the Drogheda case shows that one of the panel disagreed with his colleagues. The written judgment has not been published, so we do not know why they disagreed but it is possible the Irish club's plea for a more common-sense-based assessment of the rules was persuasive. Palace may think that if they can do the same, they are halfway there. 'Not everything is negative for Palace,' says Ioannidis. 'I would argue that the intention of the regulator is to ensure fair competition. As such, the fact that Palace may have realised their mistake and acted in compliance with the rules, albeit late, shows a genuine and honest approach to the legitimate aim pursued by UEFA. 'In this instance, it would be fair, just and reasonable for UEFA to allow Palace to be admitted to the Europa League.' Another possible line of attack for Palace is the apparent inconsistencies in the application of UEFA's rules — and this is where the decision to make Forest a party in this appeal is intriguing. The argument, presumably, would be that Evangelos Marinakis, owner of both Forest and Greece's Olympiacos, did not place the former in a blind trust until the end of April, a move he reversed when they eventually failed to join their cousins from Athens in next season's Champions League. It is a moot point now but Marinakis seemed to miss the UEFA deadline, too, and, if literal readings are important, you either meet it or you don't. If Palace wanted to be really mischievous, they could ask what Marinakis was doing on the pitch at the end of Forest's home draw against Leicester City on May 11. While he may well have been checking on the health of an injured Forest player, the episode suggested the Greek billionaire still exerted some influence at the City Ground despite that blind-trust move. And, just to add some further spice to the pot, Parish has suggested that Forest played a part in Palace's demotion to the Conference League. But an argument that effectively depends on the panel accepting that it is OK for a club to be confused about the regulations is unlikely to pan out. 'The rules and deadlines have always been there, and Palace had to act promptly, irrespective of what other clubs did,' says Ioannidis. 'The panel might say that a professional club, with an army of expert lawyers, ought to be more diligent and proactive. If confused, they could have asked UEFA for clarification.' And with that sensible advice, we should probably wrap this up and wait for CAS to make sense of it all. Hopefully.
