Cyclist
We mapped out the 2027 British Tour de France Grand Départs
It’s now official: the Tour de France is coming back to Blighty. Yes, Great Britain will play host to the Grand Départ for both the men’s and women’s Tour de France in 2027, with ASO confirming the news at a ceremony outside Edinburgh Castle last week.
As previously speculated, the Grand Départ will be a tri-national affair, with visits promised for Scotland, England and Wales during six days of racing on British soil. Apart from Edinburgh – which will host the first stage of the men’s race – the routes for both the men’s and women’s Tours are unknown. An announcement is expected to come in the autumn, with UK Sport, ASO and British Cycling working in collaboration to firm up the plans.
In our impatience, we’ve gone ahead and drawn up Grand Départs of our own. We’ve factored in local interest, press rumours, Tour trends and sporting excitement in order to create three stages for the men’s race and three for the women’s race.
Christian Prudhomme, if you’re reading, take notes.
Tour de France
Bienvenue en Écosse
What we know for sure is that the Tour de France 2027 will start in Edinburgh – or Édimbourg in French. This will mean that the teams will base themselves in the Scottish capital for three or four days on the run-up to the race, and presumably the team presentation will happen there. The plateau by Edinburgh Castle is perfectly suited to this.
In terms of entertainment at the team presentation, we can only hope that Scotland’s biggest stars are wheeled out to welcome the race, especially given that this will be the country’s first dabble at hosting the Tour. I have my fingers crossed for the likes of Rod Stewart, The Proclaimers and David Byrne to be rubbing shoulders with Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar behind the scenes at the team presentation. Who knows, maybe Susan Boyle will return to the public eye and serenade Remco Evenepoel with a rendition of Nessun Dorma.
Nevertheless, it’ll be fascinating to see the pro peloton acclimatise to Scottish life. Is Nairo Quintana a Hibs or Hearts man? Which cocktail would Patrick Lefevere order from Wetherspoons? Has Chris Froome ever eaten a tattie scone? These are very important questions that need answering.
Stage 1: Edinburgh to Dumfries
As expected, day one will be 100% on Scottish soil.
From Edinburgh, the opening stage would roll out from Holyrood Park, just like the men’s road races at the 2023 UCI Road World Championships, and head past Holyrood Palace and Scottish Parliament. After riding over the cobblestones of the Royal Mile, the course cuts onto Instagram hotspot Victoria Street before exiting the Old Town.
Leaving Edinburgh to the west, the course will spin past Murrayfield en route to Glasgow’s East End. Glasgow has been rumoured to be involved in this project, having proved itself as a worthy cycling host after the Super Worlds two years ago.
On our route, we’ve placed an intermediate sprint on Glasgow’s George Square, after which the peloton turns southwards. After crossing the Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire hills, the sprinters will have a chance to build their trains during the relatively flat final 50km. The dash to the line for the first yellow jersey in this instance would be in Dumfries along the White Sands, where Mark Cavendish has won on two occasions in the past.
The logic here is that Dumfries is close to the border with England, the expected location for Stage 2. The town, a former residence of poet Robert Burns, has been a well-trodden location of Tour of Britains gone by. The region has also funnelled a lot of cash recently into cycling projects, including Scotland’s UCI Gravel World Series event and the 2022 British Road Championships. The rumour also goes that the bicycle was invented in a village to the north of Dumfries, so consider this a homecoming for the bike.
Stage 2: Penrith to Manchester
Having packed up in Dumfries, the race will cross Hadrian’s Wall and enter England. At least, that’s what we believe – and what makes the most sense logistically.
Now, England has hosted the Tour on four previous occasions. However, it has never ventured to the North West, one of its most populated and picturesque regions. In recognition of this, we’ve chosen to have a stage that’s 100% in Cumbria and Lancashire.
According to rumours from The Guardian, the Lake District is expected to be involved – just in case the Lakes needed any more tourists in summertime. It all makes sense. This corner of Cumbria is perfect for cycling and it will look stunning on camera. For these reasons, the opening phase of our second stage sends the riders on a detour through the Lake District.
Down the M6 corridor, the peloton will pass by the likes of Lancaster and Preston before cutting across the northern hills of Greater Manchester between Bolton and Blackburn. Naturally, this takes the race onto a fast run into Manchester’s city centre for what would most likely be a hardy sprint finale down Oxford Road, a finish used twice before on the Tour of Britain.
Given that Leeds, Edinburgh and Cardiff are supposedly getting a slice of the action, so should Manchester – the actual HQ for British Cycling. The northern city has a pedigree for hosting major sporting events, and some have speculated that it will be featured on the route in some shape or form.
Stage 3: Welshpool to Cardiff
Before we delve into Stage 3, let’s start with what we know.
There will be a Welsh stage. That has been confirmed by both ASO and the First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan. It is widely rumoured that Cardiff will host the arrival of the third stage, with Prudhomme suggesting that there will be a rest day to follow the third British stage. Some have reported that ASO have drawn up plans to get the Tour back on French soil from the Welsh capital.
From there, it’s a guessing game. Mid-Wales has been rumoured to be in the mix. Given that it’s within a two or three-hour drive from the urban belt of northern England, this could minimise transition time from Stage 2, especially if this Welsh day’s racing wraps up in Cardiff, right in the south of the principality.
Bearing all this in mind, Welshpool is a reliable choice. This picture-postcard town is relatively close to Manchester, our predicted host for Stage 2, and it has been a regular fixture on the Tour of Britain map, having made several appearances in recent years. Yes, it’s quite rural, but it’ll give TV directors a different slice of British life.
From the off, we head south. There are a few bumps along the way, but from Abergavenny, the profile gets particularly punchy. Tour of Britain favourite The Tumble makes an appearance before Caerphilly Mountain disrupts the flow with less than 10km to go. By the time the race reaches central Cardiff, the Tour’s GC could be in play.
This is in line with comments made by ASO’s chief Christian Prudhomme. Last week, he discussed the Welsh stage, telling French newspaper Le Monde that ‘[the route] will use the [Welsh] hills and steep gradients so that the favourites in the general classification will be shoulder to shoulder’.
Tour de France Femmes
A return to Yorkshire?
Unlike the men’s Tour, details of the Tour de France Femmes have been kept under a tight seal. It hasn’t been confirmed where the race will start, nor where it could possibly head.
The Yorkshire Post and several other sources seem confident that the Tour de France Femmes will head to Yorkshire. There’s got to be some substance to these reports, even though the Tour organisers ASO have dodged questions surrounding the women’s Grand Départ. After having the men’s race start in Scotland, it would be fair to give England a hand at hosting the women’s race later in the summer. Yorkshire, therefore, ticks all the boxes.
By the time the Tour rolls around, it will be 13 years since the Tour last visited the county. That’s a big enough gap to justify a revisit. Rotterdam had to wait 14 years for the Tour to return in 2024, Liege welcomed the Tour twice in one decade, and Brittany has held it on three occasions since 2008. Based on this logic, you shouldn’t rule out Yorkshire – its last visit was deemed a roaring success, after all.
There are conflicting accounts as to whether the Tour de France Femmes will pull off a similar tri-national course. Given how challenging this could be for the men in terms of both route design and transfers it may be tough to replicate this for the women, who are limited to stages under 180km as per UCI regulations.
Stage 1: Leeds to York
With Yorkshire given our green light, we’re naturally drawn to its cultural capital: Leeds. The city welcomed the Tour with open arms in 2014, and it has only become more accustomed to bike racing since. To add, the local press and even an MP in the city have expressed their confidence that at least one of the Tours will arrive in 2027.
It may seem like déjà vu, given that Leeds held the first stage of the 2014 Tour, but the opening stage follows a similar route to the one used over a decade ago. After heading out of Leeds via Otley Road, the race will promptly move into the Dales for the first climbs of the women’s race.
Leaving behind the drystone walls, the direction turns towards the historic towns of Ripon and Harrogate. From there, the approach to the line will be pan flat as they line up for a final sprint in York. The historic city has become a hotspot for tourists and the imposing Minster would be an impressive sight on the TV helicopter cameras. It also makes a change given that York didn’t host a stage finish at the 2014 Tour, instead featuring at the start of the second stage.
Stage 2: Hebden Bridge to Sheffield
Given how confident Yorkshire are about their chances, I reckon the county will host a second stage. This time, however, it will turn southwards, in the direction of the Peak District.
Starting out from quaint Hebden Bridge in a tribute to TV show Happy Valley, the profile follows some considerable inclines within the opening 20km. After an undulating run through Halifax and Huddersfield, the tallest peak of this Grand Départ will arrive at Holme Moss. This Yorkshire classic will be complemented by a UK cycling classic soon after in Snake Pass.
These category two tests will thin out the field in time for a Classics-like finale into Sheffield. If it looks familiar, the final 20km here are the same as those used by the men’s Tour de France in 2014 on a stage won by Vincenzo Nibali in the former steelmaking city.
Given the running theme of replicating the 2014 Grand Départ, Sheffield has a Tour de France record behind it. Since then, it has also played host to stages of the Tour of Britain, so I’m confident that local authorities will be keen to show off the city once more on the world stage. On the other hand, Sheffield hasn’t publicly put its name in the ring, unlike some other cities across the UK. This stage isn’t quite as spread out as our previous guesses either, however, the profile and potential for GC fireworks should be an exciting draw for organisers.
Stage 3: Cambridge to London
We’ve spent a lot of time in this article discussing the north of England, Wales and Scotland. Until now, we’ve neglected ‘the south’. Given the close proximity to France – you know, the country that’ll host the rest of this race – and the high volume of cycling fans and potential sponsor interest there, it only makes sense to take a dip into southern England. In particular, London is a non-negotiable.
To accommodate this, we could recycle a stage from the 2014 Tour de France. The length has been adjusted slightly to accommodate the women’s regulations, so there’s less wiggling around the Essex countryside. Cambridge is a cycling city and its university is world-renowned. Given they’ve done it before, Cambridge could be up for the task once again. Equally, its varsity rivals Oxford could be a good choice.
The final 50km are the same as the aforementioned stage from the 2014 Tour. The peloton will zoom through Epping Forest, before taking a turn past the Olympic Park and Docklands. In royal fashion, the race would conclude with a final sprint down The Mall.
The British capital has hosted the Tour de France on two previous occasions, but it has never had the chance to welcome the women’s Tour. The RideLondon Classique was welcomed with open arms onto the city streets for several years, so there seems to be a commitment between the mayoral office and women’s cycling. Furthermore, British Cycling’s CEO has shown some aspiration for a London visit during the 2027 Grand Départs.
It’s anyone’s guess…
Despite our best sleuthing attempts, it’s still anyone’s guess as to where the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes could end up in 2027. Who knows, it might even be swinging past your house. If so, I hope you have anti-bidon double glazing.
For now, we’re left to endless speculation until the official announcements come through in the autumn. Local authorities are already throwing their hat in the ring, with the Scottish Borders, Stirling and Carmarthenshire all expressing a desire to host the racing in two years’ time. There’s no doubt that city mayors and councillors will also be in talks with ASO over the coming months in order to solidify a plan for these six British stages.
Until then, we wait with fingers crossed and yellow bunting on standby for the route reveal in a couple of months from now.
The post We mapped out the 2027 British Tour de France Grand Départs appeared first on Cyclist.