Tour de France Femmes 2025 - Stage 2: Lichtenberg's preview: Too steep for the sprinters?

Stage 2 | Sunday, 27 July 2025 | Brest - Quimper | 110.4 kilometres | 1651 vertical metres

Claudia Lichtenberg's assessment of the 2nd stage

The second stage of the day is also quite short - probably for the reason already mentioned: the men are racing the final stage in Paris today. I think the distance is a very important factor in the road race. But I wouldn't say that the first two stages of this Tour are too short. It's a good start to a tour; everything will have a real racing character on these laps in Brittany. This is not spoilt by the fact that the routes are shorter than usual in races of this category. The course is very similar in character to the previous day. But in the finale there are two climbs in direct succession.

As far as I know, the final climb is a bit steeper than the day before. The sprinter type will probably find the first day even easier than today. The road to victory is a little more about power output in relation to body weight than the day before. In short: a little less Wiebes - a little more advantage Kopecky and, from a German perspective, Liane Lippert. Basically, it's cool that Brittany is so well represented at the start. It's a proud French region. There are a lot of races there, the area is rugged and these Côtes flavour the whole thing. And you can tell that the people here have a passion for cycling.

>> The route of the Tour de France Femmes 2025 - all stages at a glance

>> Marion Rousse in a TOUR interview: "Bernard Hinault's successor will be a woman"

Schedule, TV coverage & live stream of stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes 2025

• Neutral start: 12:10 pm, sharp start 12:30 pm
• Estimated arrival time: between 15:04 and 15:20
• TV broadcast: ARD 13:20-15:25, Eurosport 1 13:00-15:45
• Live stream: sportschau.de, Discovery Plus (fee required)

TOUR expert Claudia Lichtenberg

She was one of the best tour specialists in German cycling - at a time when there was no Tour de France for women. Claudia Lichtenberg won the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de l'Aude in 2009 under her maiden name Häusler, the toughest stage races in women's cycling at the time. Alongside her job as a racing cyclist, she completed a degree in mechanical engineering. Today, the 39-year-old from Munich works as an engineer and, together with her husband Christian, comments on women's races on the Discovery+/Eurosport platforms.