The fact that the first 70 kilometres are virtually flat only adds to the brutality of the stage. After all, that leaves nearly 5,000 metres of elevation gain crammed into just 113 kilometres.
The climbing kicks off with the Col du Tourmalet (19 kilometres at 7.4%), followed by the Col d’Aspin (5 kilometres at 7.6%) and the Col de Peyresourde (7.1 kilometres at 7.8%). From the top of that last climb, there are still 32.5 kilometres to race.
The first 13 of those are a headlong descent, the rest a relentless push uphill to the finish. So, there’s no valley section to regroup; it’s straight down and then straight back up. That could make things interesting if someone dares to attack on the Peyresourde.
The final climb up to the Superbagnères ski resort officially measures 12.4 kilometres at an average gradient of 7.3%, though in truth, the climbing begins well before that. The eighth kilometre is the steepest, pitching up to 10.2%, while the final 1.4 kilometres before the summit ramp up again to a punishing 10%.
As mentioned, the run-in is fairly uneventful, which means there’s a good chance that the day’s early break will mainly feature riders who are likely to struggle once the road tilts upwards. Of course, it’s also possible that the first move won’t be the one that counts — that a second, more decisive attack forms once the mountains arrive. In that case, you can expect some proper climbers at the front, and they might just end up fighting for the stage win.
The big question is whether Visma | Lease a Bike — perhaps against their better judgment — will once again try to put yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar under pressure. There’s every chance they’ll end up empty-handed, with the Slovenian walking off with the spoils once more. So perhaps the focus of the yellow-and-black squad will shift to stage success instead. If so, they certainly have the firepower to play that card.
Then again, Pogacar might simply be feeling so good in this second full week of the Tour that he thinks: why not, let’s add another stage win…
Favourites 14th stage 2025 Tour de France
*** Tadej Pogacar, Thymen Arensman, Sepp Kuss
** Mattias Skjelmose, Enric Mas, Michael Woods, Simon Yates
* Michael Storer, Santiago Buitrago, Ben O’Connor, Cristián Rodríguez
Another interesting read: route 14th stage 2025 Tour de France.
Tour de France 2025, stage 14: routes & profiles
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