Stage 2 | Sunday, 6 July 2025 | Lauwin Planque - Boulogne-sur-Mer | 209.1 kilometres | 2550 vertical metres
Jens Voigt's assessment of stage 2
Stage 2, which starts in Lauwin-Planque and finishes in Boulogne-sur-Mer, is the longest stage of this Tour de France at 212 kilometres - and the route is much more difficult than the previous day. The riding time is at least 45 minutes longer, the terrain is much hillier and towards the end of the stage there are three climbs, of which the Côte de Saint-Etienne-au-Mont has a gradient of up to 15 per cent. Just five kilometres before the finish, another short, tough climb awaits in Outreau. The finish is then at the end of a 1.2 kilometre uphill sprint (with an average gradient of 3.8 per cent) - familiar to many riders from the Four Days of Dunkirk stage race.
At the finish, the yellow jersey will most likely shift from the shoulders of a sprinter to a so-called "puncheur" (a particularly explosive type of racer who is better over hills than sprinters; editor's note), perhaps even to a contender for the overall classification. On this day, you should watch out for racers like Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, who are my favourites for this stage. In the past, distances of 220 to 230 kilometres over several consecutive days were normal at the Tour. You rolled up to the first mountain stages. That no longer exists - but the Tour has become more exciting. The Grande Boucle has become shorter overall, but it is still a super-difficult cycling race at the highest level, where the best rider wins in the end.
Schedule, TV coverage & live stream of stage 2 of the Tour de France 2025
- Neutral start: 12:15, sharp start 12:35
- Estimated arrival time: between 17:20 and 17:49
- TV broadcast: ARD 14:05-17:15, Eurosport 1 12:00-17:30
- Live stream: sportschau.de, Discovery Plus (fee required)
- All stages of the Tour de France 2025 at a glance
Highlights of the 2nd stage
- 12:30 On your marks, get set, go: in no other race are victories and attention as coveted as in the Tour. Will a breakaway group form right after the start?
- 16:40 Three mountain classifications await on the last 30 kilometres (first twice 3rd, then once 4th category) - terrain for aggressive racers
TOUR expert Jens Voigt
Nobody in the German-speaking world knows the Tour de France better: Jens Voigt competed as a professional in the most important cycling race 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.
