The stage kicks off in Auch, the town that hosted an intermediate sprint back in 2022. We are talking stage 19 here. Later that day, Christophe Laporte took the stage win in Cahors.
Sticking with 2022, the Tour finished in Hautacam the day before Laporte won in Cahors, and green jersey Wout van Aert put in a massive effort on the finishing climb. With GC rivals Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard on his wheel, he pulled so hard at the front, that Pogacar cracked and lost contact. Van Aert kept pushing for his leader, and then it was up to Vingegaard to finish the job. Just three days later, the Dane was crowned Tour de France winner for the first time in his career.
Will it inspire Vingegaard to do something special again? For one thing, the Tour de France is only at its halfway point, and the route is not as hard as it was in 2022. Back then, the riders had to conquer the Col d’Aubisque (16.4 kilometres at 7.1%) and Col de Spandelles (10.3 kilometres at 8.3%) before the climb to the line loomed. This time, they tackle the Col du Soulor (11.9 kilometres at 7.3%) and the Col des Bordères (3.1 kilometres at 7.6%) before reaching the foot of the finishing climb. Over the last 13.6 kilometres, the road rises at an average of 7.8% to Hautacam. The toughest part comes halfway up, where the gradient kicks up to nearly 11% for 2 kilometres.
Hautacam is a relatively recent addition to the Tour de France. The climb to the ski resort was first included in 1994. Since then, six stage finishes have taken place there, with victories for Luc Leblanc (1994), Bjarne Riis (1996), Javier Otxoa (2000), Juan José Cobo (2008), Vincenzo Nibali (2014), and, as mentioned, Jonas Vingegaard (2022). Except for Otxoa, Nibali, and Vingegaard, all Hautacam winners have had doping clouds hanging over them.
In Javier Otxoa’s case, however, a very different shadow looms. His is a tragic story. The year following his emphatic stage win in Hautacam, the Spaniard was hit by a car while training with his twin brother Ricardo. Javier barely survived, while Ricardo was killed. After months in a coma and a long rehabilitation — during which he had to relearn how to walk, read, and write — Javier returned as a Paralympic cyclist, winning both gold and silver at the 2004 Paralympic Games. Still, he never fully found his footing again, and in 2018, Javier Otxoa passed away at the age of 43.
The first three riders across the line gain 10, 6 and 4 bonus seconds.
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Another interesting read: results 12th stage 2025 Tour de France.
Tour de France 2025, stage 12: routes, profiles, videos
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