How long is the Tour de France?

The Tour de France has changed dramatically since the first edition in 1903. We examine how the length and speed of the Tour de France has evolved with time

Photos: SWPix.com Words: Katy Madgwick

The Tour de France is the world's biggest bike race and the leading event in the men's professional cycling calendar. Riders strive their whole careers to win stages, or even to just start and finish the race.

The 2025 Tour de France route follows a standard formula of 21 stages, with a mixture of flat, hilly, and mountainous days. The difference in this edition though is that the Tour begins in Italy with three stages before moving back to France at the end of stage four

How far is the 2025 Tour de France in kilometres and miles?

This 112th edition of the Tour de France covers a total distance of 3,337km, or 2,074 miles. This year's route is shorter than last year’s, which totalled 3,498km. The first three editions of the race totalled less than 3000km but were spread across just six gruelling stages. Following that, the Tour tended to be much longer, covering distances in excess of 5000km in the 1920s and regularly exceeding 4000km right up until the 1980s, when distances began to be reduced.

Now the race has found a happy medium – incorporating a variety of distances over the course of the three weeks that make for exciting and unpredictable racing, but remain within the capabilities of the modern peloton. The challenges that face the riders throughout the 21 stages of a Grand Tour come in myriad shapes and sizes.

Compared to the 2024 edition, this year's route is more traditional with a French Grand Départ, a number of stages in the north of the country then visits to the Pyrenees and the Alps, before a final stage on the famous Champs-Élysées circuit in Paris.