It’s Tour de France time!
How to watch it in the U.S. and some things to look for.
This Saturday the men’s Tour de France is back! Considered one of the world’s most iconic endurance events – 21 stages, many over 100 miles long. It includes brutal mountain stages, crazy fast flat stages, daredevil sprints at stage finishes and panoramic views of the French countryside.
This year’s tour starts in Lille, France on July 5 and ends in Paris on the Champs-Élysées on July 27. And on July 26 the women’s Tour de France Femmes runs to August 3. More to come on the women’s Tour.
Viewers in the U.S. can watch all 21 stages of the 2025 Tour de France live or on-demand on Peacock with NBC Sports.
The women’s Tour de France Femmes event will also be broadcast on Peacock. For the first time in the Tour Femmes, on August 2, the organizers are inviting all riders to ride that day’s route ahead of the pros. They call it L’Étape du Tour de France Femmes. More to come on the women’s Tour as we get closer to the start.
A one-month Peacock subscription is $7.99+tax and it can be canceled at any time, with no penalty. Peacock also broadcasts a lot of other sports and entertainment if you have time to binge watch.
Live coverage of the Tour starts at 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. EDT. But you don’t need to get up at the crack of dawn to watch it, since you can watch it later on-demand. Peacock will also provide a recap of the day’s stage at 7:30 p.m. EDT.
Legendary cycling broadcaster, Phil Liggett, is back providing the play-by-play along with Bob Roll. This will be Liggett’s 51st year announcing for the Tour de France.
This year’s edition of the Tour starts with Saturday's opening stage which is expected to be decided by a bunch sprint. Biniam Girmay of Eritrea headlines the group of sprinters. In 2024, Girmay became the first Black African rider to win both a Tour de France stage (he won three) and the green jersey as the best sprinter over the whole Tour.
Later, over the three-week race, the Tour visits two of its iconic climbs — the Col du Tourmalet on Stage 14 and a summit finish on Mont Ventoux for Stage 16.
The Tour wraps up in Paris on July 27, marking the 50th anniversary of the first time it ended on the Champs-Elysees.
The field features three-time and reigning champion Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia and two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark. The duo combined to go one-two in each of the last four Tours.
Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates XRG, is vying to become the sixth man to win four or more Tours. At 26, he would be the youngest man to claim a fourth Tour title.
For the avid Tour fan, there is an excellent preview of the 2025 Tour by GCN (Global Cycling Network) a British cycling YouTube channel. GCN has some great commentators. What’s not to love about their British accent, facial expressions and phrasing such as “This is going to be a lumpy stage.”
Enjoy the Tour. May it inspire you as you get out on your bike in July. Happy Fourth! And Vive la Tour - the motto of the Tour de France, representing a celebration of cycling, sportsmanship, and the enduring spirit of competition.
Ride often. Ride safe.
Bruce