Arms Aloft Trivia Quiz

Answer:

The 2025 Tour de France was the 112th edition of this race which is widely considered to be the world's most prestigious cycle race. It started in Lille on 05 July 2025, making its way in an anticlockwise fashion round France before finishing in Paris on 27 July.

The 21 stages of the tour included two individual time trials as well as a mixture of flat, hilly and mountain top finishes which resulted in fifteen victors with four riders taking more than one stage win. The race overall was won by Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar racing for the team of UAE Emirates and he claimed his fourth Tour de France title. Second was Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard of the team of Visma-Lease-a-Bike some 4 minutes and 24 seconds behind. The third spot on the podium was filled by Germany's Florian Lipowitz of the team of Red Bull-Hansegrohe at 11 minutes behind the leader.

Here is a quick look at the fifteen stage victors.

Jasper Philpsen, the Belgian powerhouse sprinter and 2023 winner of the green jersey, took the honours in the opening stage. He also earned himself his first yellow jersey as the race leader.

Stage 2 went to Mathieu van der Poel, the Dutch rider, the grandson of the legendary Tour cyclist, Raymond Poulidor, who held off a fast finishing peloton to take his second ever stage win. Van der Poel took over the leader's yellow jersey.

Belgian sprinter, Tim Merlier, the 2024 European Champion, raised his arms aloft in a sprint finish on stage 3 and then did it again on stage 9.

Tadej Pogacar, the three time Tour de France champion took his first of what would be four stage wins when he won stage 4. This was a landmark win was it was the 100th win of his professional career. He then added to his tally by winning stages 7, 12 & 13.

Stage 5 was an individual time trial which was won by the Belgian, Remco Evenepoel. Evenepoel is a time trial specialist who also won both the UCI World and the Olympic time trial titles in 2024.

On a hilly stage 6, Ben Healy took off from a breakaway group with just on 42 kilometres left and won solo. This was the Irish' rider's first stage win in the Tour and he earned himself his first yellow jersey as a nice bonus.

The big Italian sprinter, Jonathan Milan, triumphed in bunch sprints on stage 8 and then again on stage 17. Milan would go on to win the green jersey competition overall in Paris, a first for him.

Stage 10 coincided with Bastille Day, the French national day, and was the first big mountain top finish of the 2025. It was won solo by the British rider, Simon Yates, who had earlier in the season won his first Giro d' Italia title.

Jonas Abrahamsen, the powerful young Norwegian rider, won stage 11 from a breakaway group when he out sprinted the Swiss Rider, Mauro Schmid, to take his first Tour victory and the first ever for his team, Uno X-Mobility who were awarded a wild card to this year's Tour.

Stage 14 saw one of the big mountain stages of this year's race. It was the Dutch climber, Thymen Arensmen, who won solo from a breakaway, holding off the fast finishing Pogacar and Vingegaard to take his first ever Tour stage victory. Arensmen then doubled down on his tally by winning stage 19 as well.

Stage 15 finished in the beautiful walled city of Carcassonne and it was Tim Wellens, riding in his national Belgian champions jersey, who took the victory solo after he had attacked from the breakaway group with just over 43 kilometres to go.

Stage 16 saw the return of the legendary Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence, and brought the French their first victory of the Tour when the dogged climber, Valentin Paret-Peintre, came round Ben Healy on the final corner to win and lift his arms aloft. Well, he tried to lift his arms aloft, but was so exhausted that it was more of a one arm salute.

The climb up to the ski resort of Courchavel on stage 18 brought victory for the Australian climber, Ben O'Connor, when he won solo from a breakaway and took the second Tour stage win of his career.

The penultimate 20th stage was raced over hilly terrain and saw another Australian victory as Kaden Groves won solo from another breakaway. This win gave Groves his trinity of grand tour stage wins, having previously won in both the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana.

The final stage saw the Tour returning to its traditional finish in Paris after an absence in 2024 because of the Olympic Games. However, 2025 brought a twist to the normal champagne sipping start then bunch sprint on the Champs Elysee route. Four climbs of the hill in Montmartre before the finish line on the Champs Elysee were added. The stage, raced in wet and slippery conditions, was won by the Belgian, Wout van Aert, after he disitanced Tadej Pogacar on the final ascent of Montmartre and stayed away to claim victory. He did indeed hold his arms aloft.

While the five incorrect answers might ride bikes in their spare time, none of them are professional cyclists. Ben Stokes is a cricketer who plays for England, Lionel Messi is a legendary Argentinian football (soccer) player; Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is a golfer; Ben Shelton is an American tennis player and Antoine Dupont is one of France's rugby union heroes.