With less than 12 hours until the peloton rolls out of Lille Metropole for Stage 1 of the 2025 Tour de France, team announcements continue to trickle in. Here are some of the latest.
Carlos Rodriguez to Lead Experienced and Versatile INEOS Grenadiers Roster
Carlos Rodriguez will lead the INEOS Grenadiers‘ eight-rider squad for the 112th edition of the Tour de France, which begins on Saturday, 5 July in Lille.
The exciting roster also features 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas who will be starting the 14th Tour of his career and his last before retiring at the end of the season.
The Grenadiers will be targeting stage victories and a strong general classification challenge across this year’s parcours, which features six high mountain stages and two individual time trials.
“We’ve selected a strong and experienced group of riders with the collective knowledge of how best to compete over three weeks, racing against the toughest competition in our sport,” INEOS Performance Director Dr. Scott Drawer said. “Carlos will be our leader, given his consistent climbing performances and his unwavering drive and resilience. He has been focussed on building towards the Tour all year and he is coming into the race in good form.
“Supporting Carlos is a group that’s ridden multiple Tour de France editions and have the experience to handle whatever the race throws at us. Geraint, as a previous winner, and with all his knowledge and his cool, calm head will be critical support to Carlos and the whole team, both on and off the bike.
“It’s going to be a very special edition of the Tour, with every single one of the 3338.8 kms battled out across French soil. As a team, we have been racing this season in the way we love – aggressively and with freedom and flair – and we are ready to bring more of the same to the biggest race of the year.”
Rodriquez: “Building Back”
“It was a bit of a tough start to the season with the crash in February, but I recovered pretty quickly and have been building back ever since, Carlos Rodriguez said. “The goal was always to line up at the Tour in July in my best form. Everything so far has gone to plan. I have managed to prepare well with some high-quality training and I have some good racing in the legs.
“Of course, it’s going to be a tough race against the best in the world but we will be coming out fighting and aim to be right up there at the front. It’s going to be an epic race and a real spectacle for the fans.”
Thomas: “Give Everything”
Geraint Thomas added: “I’m really looking forward to my final Tour de France. It’ll be my 14th, which sounds mad, I never thought that when I first lined up for it back in 2007, I’d still be going. I’ve certainly had my ups and downs but it’s an amazing race; the biggest and best in the world, and my favourite.
“It’s never straightforward and always super-hard, but this year my approach will be as it always is – to give everything out on the road for the team to be as successful as possible. We’ll all have important roles to play and I will definitely be playing mine.
“I just can’t wait to get to Lille and into the spirit of what’s always a rollercoaster of an event. A three week all-inclusive bike holiday around France, what’s not to like?!”
The Grenadiers line up:
- Thymen Arensman (25), Netherlands
- Tobias Foss (27), Norway
- Filippo Ganna (28), Italy
- Axel Laurance (24), France
- Carlos Rodriguez (24) Spain
- Connor Swift (29), Great Britain
- Geraint Thomas (39), Great Britain
- Sam Watson (23), Great Britain
21 Stages, 21 Chances for EF Education-EasyPost
Harry Sweeny, Neilson Powless, Vincenzo Albanese, Ben Healy, Michael Valgren, Alex Baudin, Kasper Asgreen, and Marijn van den Berg have their hearts set on winning Tour stages this summer.
They have been dreaming up Tour de France victory celebrations ever since they were little kids. They have trained hard, traveled the world, and dedicated their lives to their sport for this: 21 stages, 21 chances.
EF Education-EasyPost aims to light up the 2025 Tour de France on all terrain, from the windy north to the high peaks in the south to the City of Lights, with eight riders who each have the power, grit, and skills to win a stage on their day and make their childhood dreams come true.
Sweeney: “A Highlight”
Getting to the Tour is something that many pros never do in their lifetime. Winning a stage in the Tour is something that not only changes your career, but can change your life. The intensity of the race comes from the fact that every day someone’s life can change.
Having worked so hard for the last four years to get back to the Tour, it gives me goosebumps to think about what it could mean to win there, while actually being in the shape that is needed to win a stage. It would be one of those full-circle moments. Put it this way: It would be a highlight of my life.
Powless: “Pretty Confident”
My best memory from the Tour de France so far was probably the cobblestone stage in the 2022 Tour de France when I realized I was fighting for the yellow jersey. I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since. It is so hard to get into that position.
I feel pretty confident now with the races I’ve done this year. I know that even when I don’t feel like my very best, because you’re always going to go up and down during the Tour de France, I can rely on my racecraft. I’ve become the type of rider that’s quite opportunistic and punchy and strong. I can rely on all of the tools I’ve been developing over the last eight years as a professional and still find a way to race for the win. That is really going to come in handy at the Tour de France.
Lotto Cycling: “We’ll do everything we can to get a good result.”
With Arnaud De Lie, Lennert Van Eetvelt and Jenno Berckmoes, Lotto has three strong cards to play to defend the team’s colors over the next three weeks. The trio is supported by sprint lead-outs Jasper De Buyst and Jarrad Drizners, climber Eduardo Sepúlveda, and strongmen Sébastien Grignard and Brent Van Moer. “I’m feeling good,” says Arnaud De Lie. “This is my second Tour, and I’m bringing last year’s experience with me. I had to settle for places of honor back then, which isn’t bad for a first Tour, I learned my lessons. I hesitated too often. It’s the Tour, I was too cautious at times. Now I’m here for a second time, and I need to see everything as a bonus. I have to trust my instincts more. I don’t want to pin everything on one single stage. Of course, the first stage is important, but I want to take it day by day.”
Jenno Berckmoes, like Lennert Van Eetvelt, is on the eve of his very first Tour de France.
“I’ve already reconned stages two, four, six, and seven,” he says. “They’re tough and tricky, but they should suit me. I’m really looking forward to it. Stage victory is the goal. Whether it’s Lennert, Arnaud, myself, or someone else, we’ll see. But we’ll give it our all. The very best in the world are on the start line, everyone is at 110 percent right now. But hey, last year in Quebec, didn’t we manage to trouble Tadej Pogačar? We just have to believe in it.”
Lennert Van Eetvelt is Lotto’s third main contender. He suffered a heavy crash last Saturday at the Belgian Championships, but is luckily able to start tomorrow in Lille. “My muscles are still a bit stiff, but it’s getting better every day. My preparation actually went almost perfectly. After the Tour de Romandie, I went on an altitude training camp — the perfect reset for me to get ready for this Tour. Let’s hope I’ve forgotten about the crash in a week’s time. I expect I’ll hit some tough moments in the coming weeks, but that’s part of the learning process. I want to race and I’ll do everything I can to get a great result.”
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