Tour Type
Tour de France Experience
Riding Level
Leisure
Location
Haut-de-France | French Flanders
Duration
6 days | 5 nights | 3 stages
Length
20 - 100 km daily
Climb
Flat
The 2025 Tour de France Grand Depart is in Hauts-de-France, the Heights of France. A region of France that has been subjected to several serious world events - the two world wars of the 20th century and where young men from around the world fought. It is hard to imagine now - a calm green countryside dotted with pretty villages and towns, beautiful seaside resorts and beaches, and home to passionate cyclists and the Northern Spring Classics.
The Tour de France Presentations and Stage 1 will take place in Lille in French Flanders, the capital of the Hauts-de-France region. Previously strategically important for hundreds of years, the city has been reinvigorated by the arrival of the Eurostar and TGV lines in the 1990s, linking Paris, London and Brussels. It’s a city full of Low Countries styled buildings plus the magnificent Citadel of Lille built in the late 1660s and worth visiting.
Flat is an appropriate description of the region, given it was once part of the Low Countries – rivers, streams, endless fields of crops and yet the designers of the Tour have managed to find a route over several hills. The race route also takes into account the famed cobblestones of Hauts-de-France, and two of the stage finishes are on the coast – Bourgogne-sur-Mer and the legendary Dunkirk.
The Grand Tours Project Grand Depart Experience provides finish line crossing, podium and VIP Zone Lounge access at the finish line, as well as riding from the start line Villa on Stage 2; carefully crafted routes along sections of the actual race route as well as nearby; a Roubaix Experience day; and multiple opportunities of free time to explore Lille, enjoy beer tastings, find the historic sites of Hauts-de-France, WW1 and WW2 memorials and cemeteries, and VIP Hospitality Lounge at the Stage Finish in Dunkirk. Add in our exceptional guides and team support, comfortable hotels and delicious French and Flanders cuisine and you have a perfect Tour de France experience.
GRAND TOURS PROJECT IS NOW AN OFFICIAL TOUR DE FRANCE TOUR OPERATOR!
Make it private
The GTP team will meet you at Brussels Airport at a predetermined time and transfer you to your hotel in Lille. Once checked in, the team will assist to assemble your bikes or finesse the fitting of the rental bike and then take you on a Lille Welcome Ride. Back at the hotel you can relax before we head to the always inspiring and rousing Team Presentations. After all that excitement, there is dinner where the team will discuss the logistics for the Grand Depart and you can interrogate the GTP team members.
The Northern Spring Classics are found in this part of the world and Roubaix is only 14 km away. So today you will enjoy a Roubaix experience. This entails riding the iconic cobblestones and then by special arrangement, riding in the outdoor Roubaix velodrome and visiting the showers ! Why? These showers are open stalls and each has a brass plaque honouring winners on the track. Definitely a photo opportunity. Then back onto the cobblestones, to the hotel to change. There is an optional tourist diversion – Lille is famous for its beers – so if you are interested, we will arrange a beer tasting visit …or tour!
Straight after breakfast, the team will transfer you to Hazebrouck for the longer ride option and then to Stevevoorde for the shorter option. Pretty flat riding along the official race route with a couple category climbs BUT nothing strenuous unless you are racing. Cobblestones probably also feature so the Roubaix training the day before will help! At the finish, you will cross the Official TDF Arrivée, mount the Stage 1 Winners Podium before joining the crowds to watch and cheer on the pros as they arrive.
After breakfast, a transfer to Lauwin-Planque and an official Tour de France Depart – an official announcement and then off through the gathering crowds and along the race route. IF there is time beforehand, you will also be able to visit team buses and observe the riders, mechanics and support crew prepare.
During the ride, you will be cheered on by fans and spectators and when the Gendarmes close the road, you will join the fans on the side to watch the breakaway riders and peloton fly by. Once the road is open, the GTP team will transfer you back to Lille.
After breakfast, you will be transferred to Béthune, a beautiful town famous for its architecture, specifically the UNESCO World Heritage protected belfry built in 1346 and comprising of 36 bells. After many kilometres of flat riding, a deja vu moment, Cote de Cassel, but from a different direction and possibly the steep side on cobblestones. Thereafter it is very flat into Dunkirk where you will have time to visit the Dunkirk Beach Memorial, swim in the sea and then return to the Arrivée to watch the spectacle of the pros racing over the same line from the TDF VIP Hospitality Lounge.
When the dust has settled, the team will transfer you to your hotel at Brussels Airport and bid you farewell.
Depending upon your flight departure time, enjoy your brief stay in Brussels. If you have a late flight, we encourage you to journey into Brussels Old Town and enjoy the sites.
Arrangements will have been made with the hotel to ensure you have a stress free transfer to the airport check in.
If the Tour de France Grand Depart Experience ticks your boxes, please contact Grand Tours Project.
What’s Not Included?
