Tour de France 2025 Favourites stage 11: For fast finishers #5

foto: Cor VosThere are five categorised climbs on an otherwise flat-to-rolling route that takes the riders from Toulouse back to Toulouse. Could an 800-metre ramp at 12.4% inside the final 9 kilometres ruin the sprinters’ dreams? (Slideshow route/profile)

Let’s get straight to the point: no.

Stage 11 of the Tour includes 1,750 metres of elevation over 156.8 kilometres. That’s usually well within the range of the sprinters — especially if the climbs are far from the finish. But that’s not the case this time. Two final climbs await in the last 16 kilometres: the first rises at 6.8% over 1.3 km, and the second kicks up at 12.4% over just 800 metres. Obviously, neither of them comes anywhere close to Mont Ventoux proportions. And with 8.8 kilometres still to go from the top of that last bump, chances are we’ll get a bunch sprint in Toulouse.

That said, positioning will be crucial. The ramps begins right after a sharp right-hand corner, which will significantly kill the speed. So no chance of flying into it full gas and getting a free ride halfway up.

No doubt there’ll be riders who try to steal a march in the finale. Always good for the suspense.

And, to return to the bold denial with which we opened this article: in cycling, you never know. In the stage where Mathieu van der Poel and Jonas Rickaert spent the entire day in the break, no teams initially stepped up to help Lidl-Trek with the chase. That could easily happen again. And if Lidl-Trek decides to throw in the towel, the breakaway might well be given the space to fight it out among themselves.

Favourites 11th stage 2025 Tour de France

*** Tim Merlier, Wout van Aert, Kaden Groves
** Mathieu van der Poel, Jonathan Milan, Julian Alaphilippe, Biniam Girmay
* Arnaud De Lie, Kasper Asgreen, Axel Laurance, Alex Aranburu, Vincenzo Albanese

Another interesting read: route 11th stage 2025 Tour de France.