The 2025 Tour de France was the fastest-ever edition of the race with an average speed of 42.8491kph.
This shows how the Tour de France is getting faster and faster. There are many factors behind the increase in speed, including advances in aerodynamics, rider development, training, nutrition and even route design with shorter courses leading to faster speeds.
At 3,302km, this year’s race was 48km longer than the second fastest Tour de France in 2022, which had an average speed of 42.1017kph. The 2021, 2023 and 2024 editions all averaged between 41–42kph and were over 3,400km.
A 50kph stage
The 2025 edition of the race also saw the second fastest stage – excluding time trials – in the Tour de France’s history. Tim Merlier won stage 9 from Chinon to Châteauroux with an average speed of 50.013kph over the 174km route.
Developments in aerodynamics and nutrition explain how the Tour de France has increased in speed in recent years, but the fastest-ever stage of the Tour de France actually happened over 25 years ago.
Stage 4 of 1999 Tour de France, from Laval to Bois, was completed at an average speed of 50.35kph over 194.5km and won by Mario Cippolini. However, the 1999 edition of the race was later marred by the prevalence of doping, casting a shadow over any results and statistics.
Tadej Pogačar’s unrelenting speed
Tadej Pogačar won the 2025 Tour de France, claiming four stage wins in the process, including stage 7 from Saint-Malo to Mûr de Bretagne, which was the second fastest of this year’s race. It covered 194km and saw Pogačar average just over 48kph.
The yellow-jersey winner was also blisteringly fast in the mountains. He won stage 13’s 10.9km uphill time trial with an average speed of 28.4kph, beating second place Jonas Vingegaard by 36 seconds.
Another duel between Pogačar and Vingegaard on stage 16 saw Pogačar set a new fastest time up Mont Ventoux. The climb to the summit is 20.74km with an average gradient of 8.31 per cent and the Slovenian completed it in 52 minutes and 47 seconds, shaving five minutes off his previous record.
While Pogačar completed the 2025 Tour de France in 72 hours and 36 seconds, spare a thought for Lidl-Trek’s Simone Consonni. Finishing in last place, and therefore claiming the lanterne rouge, Consonni finished over 5 hours behind Pogačar.
Average speeds of the last 10 Tour de France
| Year | Avg. speed (kph) | Winner |
| 2025 | 42.8491 | Tadej Pogačar |
| 2024 | 41.8075 | Tadej Pogačar |
| 2023 | 41.4134 | Jonas Vingegaard |
| 2022 | 42.1017 | Jonas Vingegaard |
| 2021 | 41.1581 | Tadej Pogačar |
| 2020 | 39.8678 | Tadej Pogačar |
| 2019 | 40.5752 | Egan Bernal |
| 2018 | 40.224 | Geraint Thomas |
| 2017 | 41.0182 | Chris Froome |
| 2016 | 39.5973 | Chris Froome |
When was the slowest Tour de France?
According to Pro Cycling Stats, the slowest Tour de France was in 1924. Ottavio Bottecchia won the 5,425km race with an average speed of 23.9505kph.
The longest stage of the 1914 edition was 482km and the shortest was still a very long 275km.
