The 2025 Tour de France continued Friday with stage 7 – a 197-kilometer battle in hilly and demanding terrain of northern France on a route from Saint-Malo to Mur-de-Bretagne. The stage would feature three categorized climbs and conclude on the steep and much-feared Mur-de-Bretagne. Breakaway hopefuls, puncheurs, and classics specialists were expected to battle for the stage victory and time gains in an exciting stage finale.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) had reclaimed the general classification lead from Tadej Pogacar following the Dutchman’s admirable participation in yesterday’s long breakaway. Pogacar was one second behind van der Poel, while Remco Evenepoel was third, 43 seconds back. Kevin Vauquelin had dropped to fourth after yesterday’s stage, while Jonas Vingegaard was now fifth, 01:14 minutes behind the GC leader.

Stage 7 got off to a fast start and many riders were eager to launch attacks and engage in breakaway efforts as the riders left Saint-Malo on the Northwestern coast of France. Wout van Aert (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula) formed an early attacking duo, but the optimists got reeled in. Other riders tried their luck.

Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Victor Campenaerts (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), and Jenno Berckmoes (Team Lotto-Caps) tried their luck. Almost thirty kilometers of the stage had been raced at this point.

The speed was still intense after forty kilometers of racing. Riders were still launching attacks while hoping to be able to establish a viable breakaway. Madouas tried again with 155 kilometers left, and a Uno-X Mobility rider tried to make the leap to him - as did a rider from the Bahrain-Victorious team, whose team captain Lenny Martinez was celebrating his birthday on home soil.

Neilson Powless launched multiple attacks as the EF Education-EasyPost rider tried to mimic the success of teammate Ben Healy in yesterday’s stage. Other riders launched counterattacks and Alex Baudin (EF Education), Geraint Thomas (Ineos-Grenadiers), Marco Haller (Tudor Pro Cycling Team), Ewen Costiou (Arkea B & B Hotels), and Movistar’s Ivan Garcia Cortina formed a front group. 

The quintet managed to break free and establish a bigger advantage over the main peloton. Their advantage was more than a minute with 136 kilometers remaining. However, multiple teams in the peloton had missed out and were now looking to catapult team members into the front breakaway. Riders from UAE Team Emirates and Alpecin-Deceuninck moved to the front of the peloton to establish some calm and control.

The time advantage of the front quintet was 01:35 minutes when 115 kilometers of the stage remained and it was a pleasure to finally be able to enjoy an animating version of legendary Welshman Geraint Thomas in his final Tour de France.

The front group was still in the lead with 80 kilometers left of the stage, but now with a lead of 01:25 minutes. The peloton was keeping the breakaway group on a tight leash, and it appeared the GC favorites intended to take advantage of the Mur de Bretagne stage finish to fight for time gains. The riders were passing by the coastline, and the weather conditions were very warm with temperatures around thirty degrees Celsius.

The cyclists passed by the Douvenant Viaduct, which is a circular railway viaduct built between 1903 and 1905. While trains had travelled via the viaduct, there would be no use for sprint trains in today’s stage 7 of Tour de France as the finish would be uphill with the Mur-de-Bretagne to be climbed twice.

Marco Haller got dropped from the breakaway group and was caught by the chasing peloton with 43 kilometers left.

Twenty-five kilometers of stage 7 remained, and the riders were approaching the Mur-de-Bretagne climb for the first time. The renowned climb would have to be climbed two times in the stage – including the stage finale. The front quartet had a lead of slightly more than one minute over the chasing peloton, where the speed was intense and several teams were pulling in front to position their leaders and stage win hopefuls well for the climb.

Ivan Garcia Cortina accelerated from the front group as they approached Mur-de-Bretagne. He was joined by Costiou and Baudin, while Thomas was unable to hang onto his fellow frontmen. Visma-Lease a Bike riders were spearheading the main peloton at the same time.

Costiou went solo on Mur-de-Bretagne with 1.7 kilometers of the short, but steep climb remaining. 17 kilometers of the stage remained.

Simon Yates was leading Jonas Vingegaard on the climb. The main peloton reeled in all breakaway optimists apart from Frenchman Costiou, who was now solo in front and bravely reached the summit first. Costiou reached the descent with an advantage of twenty seconds over the chasing main peloton.

Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) moved to the front of the peloton together with Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) and reeled in Costiou. Simon Yates was monitoring the action immediately behind the Spanish rider for his team captain Jonas Vingegaard.

Marc Soler was still in the lead with eight kilometers of the stage remaining. The race was approaching its finale, and the riders were now five kilometers from the Mur-de-Bretagne, where the stage would be decided and the GC of the race possibly influenced by the uphill action.

A crash occurred in the rear part of the main peloton. The crash brought down Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), who was bruised and battered almost everywhere, yesterday’s stage winner Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Enric Mas (Movistar), and other riders.

Wout van Aert took to the front of the peloton for his Visma team and set a fast pace together with a Groupama-FDJ rider. The riders entered Mur-de-Bretagne. Tadej Pogacar immediately moved to the front and was joined by Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard.

Evenepoel was leading the three-man group with 1.3-kilometers left. Kevin Vauquelin was fighting to catch up with the front trio. Other riders also joined the front group.

The riders entered the final kilometer.

Jhonatan Narvaez moved to the front of the group for UAE Team Emirates and Tadej Pogacar. Evenepoel was second in the group, while Pogacar was third in his rainbow jersey. Five hundred meters remained.

Tadej Pogacar launched a fast sprint and Vingegaard stuck to his rear wheel. Tadej Pogacar was the strongest man on Mur-de-Bretagne and is the winner of stage 7. Jonas Vingegaard finished second for Team Visma-Lease a Bike, while Great Britain’s Oscar Onley (Team Picnic-PostNL) completed the stage podium. Felix Gall was fourth, Matteo Jorgenson fifth, while Remco Evenepoel finished sixth, and Kevin Vauquelin was the seventh rider to cross the finish line.

“Today was almost perfect. Unfortunately, Joao crashed and if he is not ok then this victory is for him. I just hope he is ok. Matthieu van der Poel and I both know this stage finish location and we both wanted to win on this iconic climb, but I believe he spent too much energy in yesterday’s stage, so we couldn’t have a rematch today,” stage winner Pogacar told Roadcycling.com shortly after the stage finish.

“My teammates were perfect on this hot day, and the pace was superfast. My team should lead me out to the bottom of the climb, and it worked perfectly for me. I’m back in yellow and will now focus on the next to race days before the first rest day,” Pogacar explained.

GC leader Mathieu van der Poel proved unable to keep up with Pogacar and his gang and lost the yellow jersey after having spent much valuable energy in his brave breakaway during yesterday’s stage. Tadej Pogacar is the new rider in the yellow jersey as the Slovenian rider reclaimed the GC lead after his strong win in today’s stage.

Saturday’s stage 8 of Tour de France 2025 will challenge the riders in the Tour peloton to a battle in flat terrain on a 171.5-kilometer route from Saint Meen le Grand to Laval Espace Mayenne. Expect the stage to be dominated by a long breakaway and the stage finale to be decided between the pure sprinters in the Tour.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for complete coverage from the 2025 Tour de France.