Tour de France 2025 - 16th stage: Voigt's preview: Battle for prestige on Mont Ventoux

Stage 16 | Tuesday, 22 July 2025 | Montpellier - Mont Ventoux | 171.5 kilometres | 2950 vertical metres

Jens Voigt's assessment of the 16th stage

There have always been riders who have found it difficult to start the race after the second rest day - especially if there was a difficult stage on the programme the following day. In the meantime, the ASO has reacted to this and has often planned stages after the rest day that are fairly flat and easy to start, so that you can roll in. That was also the case this year. But at the end, of course, there is one hell of a mountain: there is a reason why Mont Ventoux is called "le Géant de la Provence" - the Giant of Provence. The mountain is huge. The peloton will see it looming on the horizon from afar, it will appear bigger and bigger.

And at the end, it's more than an hour uphill to the summit, with a pulse of 190, always at the limit. Because three quarters of the stage is quite flat and easy, I expect the yellow jersey team to control the stage and the overall leader to want to win the stage. This stage win is very prestigious - so I don't think there's much chance of breakaways and that one of the big names in the peloton will be the first to reach the summit!

For this reason, I don't think the wind in the Rhone Valley is a big factor on this stage - everyone is concentrating on the tough finale. It's usually very hot on the Ventoux, especially in the lower half in the forest. On the second half of the mountain, the road continues above the tree line - it looks like the moon there. The upper part of the route is quite susceptible to wind.

Schedule, TV coverage & live stream of the 16th stage of the Tour de France 2025

• Neutral start: 12:10, sharp start 12:40
• Estimated arrival time: between 16:44 and 17:12
• TV broadcast: ARD 14:10-17:15, Eurosport 1 12:00-17:00
• Live stream: sportschau.de, Discovery Plus (fee required)
• All stages of the Tour de France 2025 at a glance

Highlights of the 16th stage

• 15:05: Sprint classification in Chateauneuf-du-Pape (kilometre 112.4): On the open spaces in the Rhone valley, there's always the danger of the peloton breaking up in the crosswinds.
• 16:00: The scramble up Mont Ventoux (HC) begins in Bédoin: 15.7 kilometres with an average gradient of 8.8 per cent - finish at 16:44.

TOUR expert Jens Voigt

Nobody in the German-speaking world knows the Tour de France better: Jens Voigt competed in the most important cycling race as a professional a total of 17 times between 1998 and 2014. Only the Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel, the current record holder, has managed one more participation. Voigt knows the race from the perspective of the winner and the tireless helper in the team. He won two stages himself and wore the yellow jersey for one day each in 2001 and 2005. In 2010, as a team-mate in Team Saxo Bank, he accompanied Luxembourg's Andy Schleck to his overall victory (after the doping disqualification of Alberto Contador, who initially came first; editor's note). The 53-year-old Berliner currently works as a brand ambassador for the bike manufacturer Trek and as a pundit for the Eurosport channel.

For TOUR readers, the former pro gives his predictions for the course of the 21 stages, points out difficulties and things worth seeing. For each day's stage, he gives a tip on what role the course could play in the final standings in the individual classifications in Paris. If three of the jerseys are coloured, this means that this day could be decisive for this classification - i.e. overall classification (yellow), sprint/points classification (green) and classification of the best climber (red dotted jersey). We also give you the broadcast times of the TV channels in Germany (ARD and Eurosport) and their live streams - plus tips on when it might be particularly worth tuning in.