Recap: Tour de France 2025 – Week 1
A century for Pogačar, a renaissance for Italy, and record-breaking speed
The opening week of the Tour de France 2025 unfolded like a tapestry woven from history and heroics. In just nine stages we’ve seen Tadej Pogačar etch his name into new ledgers of greatness, Jonathan Milan reawaken Italy’s sprinting soul, and Remco Evenepoel reaffirm the rainbow bands against the clock. Even the road itself seemed impatient, pushing the peloton to speeds unseen in a quarter-century.
This is a Tour already rich in numbers, but behind every number is a story worth telling.
💚 Jonathan Milan and the Azzurri renaissance
When Jonathan Milan thundered to victory on Stage 8 in Laval, he didn’t just deliver Italy’s first Tour stage win since Vincenzo Nibali’s audacious solo in 2019. He became the first Italian sprinter to win a mass gallop since Elia Viviani in Nancy that same year.
But Milan had already marked his territory earlier in the week, slipping into the maillot vert after Stage 3. It made him only the ninth Italian rider to wear the points leader’s jersey – and the first in 22 years, since Alessandro Petacchi’s green flash in 2003.
📊 Italians in green:
🇮🇹 2025 – Jonathan Milan
🇮🇹 2010 & 2003 – Alessandro Petacchi
🇮🇹 1997 & 1993 – Mario Cipollini
🇮🇹 1995 – Fabio Baldato
🇮🇹 1975 – Francesco Moser
🇮🇹 1969 & 1967 – Marino Basso
🇮🇹 1968 – Franco Bitossi
🇮🇹 1965 – Felice Gimondi
🇮🇹 1960 – Gastone Nencini
Milan’s ascendance comes after years in which Italian sprinters seemed to vanish from the Tour’s decisive final kilometers. His blend of raw power and tactical nous recalls the days of Cipollini and Petacchi, when green was as much an Italian color as a French one.
🏆 Pogačar: centuries and streaks
Meanwhile, Tadej Pogačar continues his quiet accumulation of monumental feats. Stage 4’s uphill sprint to Rouen gave him his 100th professional victory – a milestone reached at 26 years old, a pace matched only by the Cannibal himself.
Three days later, Stage 7 brought win number 101 and his 19th Tour de France stage victory, tying him with François Faber on the all-time list. He now sits tantalizingly close to Nicolas Frantz (20) and André Darrigade (22).
📊 Most Tour de France stage wins:
35 – Mark Cavendish 🇬🇧
34 – Eddy Merckx 🇧🇪
28 – Bernard Hinault 🇫🇷
25 – André Leducq 🇫🇷
22 – André Darrigade 🇫🇷
20 – Nicolas Frantz 🇱🇺
19 – François Faber 🇱🇺, Tadej Pogačar 🇸🇮
The Slovenian has now won at least one stage in six consecutive Tours (2020–2025). Only André Darrigade (10), Miguel Induráin (7) and Lance Armstrong1 (7) have longer streaks in the race’s history.
📊 Most consecutive Tours with stage wins:
10 – André Darrigade 🇫🇷
7 – Miguel Induráin 🇪🇸
6 – Nicolas Frantz 🇱🇺, Thor Hushovd 🇳🇴, Mark Cavendish 🇬🇧, André Greipel 🇩🇪, Tadej Pogačar 🇸🇮
For one fleeting day after Stage 5, Pogačar held the yellow, green and polka dot jerseys simultaneously – a trifecta only achieved by a handful of riders in Tour history. The most recent was Philippe Gilbert in 2011, but the elite club also includes:
Eddy Merckx (19 days) – the Cannibal made it seem routine during his dominant years.
Cyrille Guimard (7 days) – in 1972, before injury curtailed his GC ambitions.
Bernard Hinault (2 days) – in the 1979 Tour.
Acacio Da Silva (2 days) – the Portuguese climber in 1989.
Rudi Altig (2 days) – an all-rounder who led all three classifications briefly in 1962.
Philippe Gilbert (1 day) – in 2011 after his Stage 1 win.
Richard Virenque (1 day) – the polka dot king in 1992.
And now, Tadej Pogačar joins them with his own one-day reign across all three jerseys – a perfect snapshot of his versatility and dominance.
⏱️ Evenepoel’s rainbow repeat
Stage 5 belonged to Remco Evenepoel, the reigning World Time Trial Champion. His victory in the 25 km test against the clock was his second Tour ITT win in as many years, making him the first rider since Tony Martin to win Tour time trials in back-to-back seasons while wearing the rainbow bands.
📊 Most career TT wins (active riders):
28 – Filippo Ganna 🇮🇹
22 – Stefan Küng 🇨🇭
21 – Remco Evenepoel 🇧🇪
18 – Primož Roglič 🇸🇮, Wout van Aert 🇧🇪
Evenepoel now has 21 career time trial wins, and he’s on pace to join Ganna and Martin in the rarified air above 30.
💨 Merlier’s record-breaking sprint
Tim Merlier closed out the week with a Stage 9 win at an astonishing average speed of 50.013 kph – only the second time in Tour history a mass-start stage has averaged over 50 kph. The last? Stage 4 of the 1999 edition (50.36 kph).
It was a sprint finish that left even seasoned observers breathless.
🥈 Van Aert’s silver streak
For Wout van Aert, Stage 8 brought another familiar outcome: second place. His 16th Grand Tour stage runner-up ties him with Chris Froome, both trailing only Primož Roglič among active riders.
📊 Most 2nd places in GT stages (active riders):
18 – Primož Roglič 🇸🇮
16 – Chris Froome 🇬🇧
16 – Wout van Aert 🇧🇪
Van Aert’s consistency remains remarkable, but the hunger for a first 2025 Tour stage win will only grow in the second week.
The first week of the 2025 Tour has given us glimpses of dominance and redemption, power and poise. With the Alps looming, the numbers may change, but the stories will only deepen.
Lance Armstrong originally won the Tour de France seven consecutive times between 1999 and 2005. However, all results were later stripped by the UCI following a formal investigation into doping violations. These editions now officially have no overall winner.