Modern day Tour de France consists of 21 stages. But it doesn't mean, that riders have to ride 21 consecutive days. A Tour de France is held over a time period of 23-24 days. Thus the riders have two (sometimes three)
rest days.
Usually, a Tour de France starts on a Saturday, In rare cases, when the Grand Depart takes place abroad, especially in a bit more distanced country, the race might start on Friday. In this case, as it happened in 2022 in Denmark, after the first three stages there is a restday to transport the entire peloton to France.
Otherwise after the first weekend riders spend the entire subsequent days in the saddle, qnd only after the second weekend, after nine consecutive competing days is a rest day. And the second rest day comes a week later, usually on a Monday, again.
This is currently the basic structure of all the three grand tours (besides Tour de France, also Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana)
There is a good reason I emphasized at the beginning of my post that this is about modern day Tour de France. Back in the heydays of Tour de France when not just the route, but the numbers of stages were changing year by year, there were even more rest days. The first Tour de France (1903) included only six stages, but the event was held from 1 to 19 July.
In 2025 the rest days will be in
and
Dont forget! This year, because the second Monday during the race will be Badtille day (14 July) the first rest day will be postponed to Tuesday.
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The last stage before the first rest day:
Tour de France 2025 Stage 10 Ennezat - Le Mont-Dore (163 km )
Bastille day at Tour de France 2025. The 10th stage on the 14th July 2025 (Monday! The first rest days will take place on Tuesday) will end on the Le Mont-Dore
The first stage after the fist rest day:
Tour de France 2025 Stage 11 Toulouse - Toulouse (156 km)
After so many speculations how big role Toulouse will play in the program of Tour de France 2025, finally, here is the answer: The 11th stage ( 16 July 2025) will start and end in Toulouse. It will be a rather flat stage comparing with the three hard days in the Pyreneees.
The last stage before the second rest day:
Tour de France 2025 Stage 15 Muret - Carcassonne (169 km)
The 15th stage of Tour de France 2025 will be held on 20th July 2025. ON THIS DAY IN TOUR DE FRANCE HISTORY 1986 Tour de France visits Col du Granon VINTAGE TOUR DE FRANCE IMAGE OF THE DAY
The first stage after the second rest day
Tour de France2025 Stage 16 Montpellier - Mont-Ventoux (171,5 km)
As it was expected, the 16th stage (22 July 2025) of Tour de France 2025 will lead up to the top of Mont Ventoux. MAP As it was expected, the 16th stage (22 July 2025) of Tour de France 2025 will lead up to the top of Mont Ventoux.
Nowadays, when even the teams and riders are creating online content everyday, is not that significant anymore, but for several decades
rest days were also press days.
For example, taking photos of the actual leader of the general classification wearing the yellow jersey while reading the newspapers with fornt page stories about the race was one of the recurring topic of the rest day pictures.
Although it's called rest day, it does not mean, that the riders do nothing at all. They usually spend the day in the saddle, go for a training ride. The rest days means only that they don't compet that day.
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