
Tour de France organisers ASO have justified the absence of pavé in the 2025 Grand Départ stages despite the race’s opening three days finishing close to the much-feared cobbled backroads of northern France.
As the finishing locations of Paris-Roubaix and the Tour’s opening stage in Lille on July 5th are separated by just a few kilometres, expectations that sectors of pavé featured regularly in the Queen of the Classics could put in an appearance had been high.