Why are there two weekend sprint stages at the 2025 Tour de France?

The Amaury Sport Organisation, known as A.S.O, the organisers of the Tour de France, have opted for two flat stages on the weekend of stages 8 and 9, something which has been confusing to many. The weekend is when the majority of fans have the most amount of time to watch the Tour, but sprint stages are renowned for having little action for the majority until the explosive and exciting sprint finish at the end, so this decision has left many fans wondering the reason why.

The Tour de France route director, Thierry Gouvenou, explained the logistical reasons why the 2025 Tour has two sprint stages this weekend: "That's just the quirks of the French topography."

"But we want to take the peloton to the Massif Central, and there are no hills between Brittany and the Massif Central," Gouvenou said. "And a short flight to avoid these regions isn't an option for us either."

Usually, there would be a rest day following stage 9 on Sunday's expected sprint into Chateauroux, however, the Tour will continue into Monday with an explosive stage 10 on Bastille Day in the Massif Central. 

The race organisers have moved the first rest day until Tuesday to avoid a lack of racing on the French national holiday, but this has meant that logistically, the route has needed to incorporate flatter stages on stages 8 and 9 in order to arrive in the Massif Central.

This is the first time since 2014 that the peloton will have to wait for 10 stages until a rest day, and Gouvenou also acknowledged the importance of looking after the riders after some very attritional hilly stages already in the legs.

"The goal isn't to give the riders 21 super-tough stages. You simply have to build in moments to ease the pressure, so the riders can ease off a bit. These two stages are very welcome; fatigue is definitely noticeable in the peloton right now."

It's not a majorly surprising feature to see a sprint stage on the weekend at the Tour de France, but it is rarer to see a double weekend of sprints. Since 2018, stage 8 has been a sprint stage on four occasions, but this is the first time since the 2022 Grand Depart in Denmark where there has been a double sprint stage weekend.

Below is a list of the ten most recent weekend stages that were won in a bunch sprint at the Tour de France.