Christchurch 22-year-old Laurence Pithie will become the 19th New Zealander to start in cycling’s iconic Tour de France which gets underway tomorrow in the northern city of Lille, in France.
Pithie, who rides for the high profile Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team, is currently in his third year on the UCI World Tour.
“It’s my first Tour de France and sure it is a little bit daunting but I am super-excited,” said Pithie.
“I want take the opportunity with both hands. I have done all the preparation that I can and I think I am at a pretty good level.
“There’s not much to do now – my favourite part is racing, so the hard work I have put in over the last month especially, will be put on show.
“My whole life since I started cycling was aimed at becoming a professional cyclist. It was my dream to race in the Tour de France. It is one thing to be racing in the professional peloton but it is something else to be selected to ride in the Tour de France.”
The 2025 version of the Tour de France totals 3,339kms over 21 stages, with seven flat stages, six hilly, six mountainous and two individual time trials, one of them in the high mountains.
Pithie becomes the 19th New Zealander to ride the Tour de France that began with Harry Watson in 1928, with the stature of kiwi riders in the race growing significantly in recent years. While Le Tour celebrates its 112th year, the New Zealand involvement has been mainly over recent times, with 13 of the 19 kiwi riders have competed in the last 12 years.
The young kiwi, who turns 23 midway through the tour, makes it the 54th start from those 19 New Zealand riders, with more kiwis competing in the Tour de France than the other Grand Tours. New Zealanders have completed the Vuelta á Espana a collective 36 times and the Giro d’Italia 27 times.
Leading the way among New Zealand riders are Julian Dean and Jack Bauer who competed the Tour de France seven times each, while Dean leads the way for total Grand Tours with 19 starts ahead of George Bennett with 14.
The 23 professional teams taking part this year comprise the 18 UCI WorldTour Teams along with Pro Tour teams Lotto, Israel-Premier Tech, Total Energies, Tudor Pro Cycling and Uno-X Mobility.
They take on mostly flat and some hilly stages for the first 10 days before tackling the major mountains of the Pyrenees and Alps with five summit finishes including the infamous Mont Ventoux and Col de la Loze.
The climbing in the second half of the Tour is relentless with uphill finals as well as exciting potential in breakaway stages.
Favourite is the remarkable 26 year old Tadej Pogacar from Slovenia, riding for UAE Team Emirates, chasing his fourth overall title in six years. Victory would elevate him into a select group of six riders who have won the general classification honours four times or more – Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Induráin and Chris Froome.
The first stage of the 2025 Tour de France will be broadcast live on Sky TV from 11pm on Saturday.
Caption: Laurence Pithie shapes up for his first Tour de France; Julian Dean, on the start line in 2011, one of his seven starts in the Tour de France.