The Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes will each begin within the United Kingdom in 2027, ASO and British Cycling confirmed as we speak.
The hearsay of one other British Grand Départ – 11 years on from Yorkshire in 2014 – started to flow into final month, and on Wednesday, March 19 the race organisers formally unveiled the information, with the boys’s Grand Départ set to begin in Edinburgh.
Starting within the Scottish capital, the boys’s race will function phases in Scotland, England and Wales, although actual particulars of the phases should not anticipated to be unveiled within the autumn.
The ladies’s race will even begin within the UK, however the host metropolis for that Grand Départ isn’t but identified and will probably be among the many particulars revealed later within the yr.
2027 will subsequently mark the primary time that the boys’s and girls’s Grand Départs have been hosted in the identical overseas nation. Only in its fourth version in 2025, the Tour de France Femmes has already ticked off one overseas begin in Rotterdam final summer time. The race will begin in France this yr, with no plans unveiled but for the 2026 begin.
On the boys’s aspect, this would be the fifth time that the Tour has visited the UK – after Grand Départs in 2007 and 2014, and phases in 1994 and 1974.
“The Tour de France and the UK share a wealthy historical past, and I’m delighted to carry the Grand Départ to the nation in 2027,” Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme mentioned.
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“Britain has all the time welcomed the Tour with enthusiasm and satisfaction, and this collaboration throughout England, Scotland, and Wales guarantees to make the occasion much more particular.”
The occasion will probably be a collaboration between numerous stakeholders within the UK, together with British Cycling, UK Sport, the UK Government, and the Scottish and Welsh Governments.
The information was unveiled in Edinburgh, which is about to host the beginning of the primary males’s stage, after the success of varied sporting occasions within the nation together with the Glasgow ‘tremendous’ World Championships in 2023 – with some occasions visiting Edinburgh – and the Commonwealth Games in 2014, with a return set for the 2026 Games.
“It is an amazing honour to welcome the Tour de France to Scotland,” mentioned John Swinney, first minister of Scotland. “We realize it is without doubt one of the most iconic and provoking contests in sport, and that Scotland gives the proper stage for main occasions. Hosting the Tour guarantees to be a novel alternative to showcase our nation to its many followers all over the world as a part of a timeline of unbelievable sporting occasions in Scotland from 2026 to 2028.”
The huge occasion can also be supported by the UK authorities, with tradition secretary Lisa Nandy notably celebrating the securing of the ladies’s race in addition to the boys’s Tour.
“The alternative to host the Grand Departs of each the boys’s and girls’s Tour de France will cement Britain’s popularity as a vacation spot for main worldwide sporting occasions. This will stimulate development, appeal to new guests and go away a long-lasting legacy for athletes and followers alike,” Nandy mentioned.
“Staging the Tour de France Femmes in Britain for the primary time will even be an historic event and encourage the following era of feminine cyclists whereas supporting our mission of breaking down obstacles for ladies and ladies to get extra concerned in sport.”
As effectively because the racing, the occasion is about to be supported by a “landmark social affect programme” within the build-up to July 2027, which can goal to “ship long-lasting advantages for hundreds of individuals throughout the nation by tackling inactivity, enhancing psychological wellbeing, boosting financial development and supporting communities to thrive.”
“This isn’t just in regards to the race – it’s about making a nationwide second that encourages more healthy existence, helps cycle tourism, and brings communities collectively,” mentioned British Cycling CEO Jon Dutton OBE.
The Yorkshire Grand Départ in 2014 was largely thought of to be successful on the roadside, with enormous crowds attending the three UK-based phases and the occasion finally paved the way in which for the Yorkshire World Championships in 2019.
However, the legacy of the occasion has not essentially endured in a optimistic gentle, with ‘tribute’ race the Tour de Yorkshire folding after X editions and the driving force of the occasion, Welcome to Yorkshire’s Gary Verity, resigning amidst allegations of bullying and monetary inconsistencies.
Once a rarity, after which at most an every-other-year affair, overseas Grand Départs have grow to be more and more widespread in all of the Grand Tours, however particularly the Tour de France. Of the final 10 editions, six have began exterior of France, in areas corresponding to Copenhagen, the Basque Country, and Düsseldorf.
The 2025 race will begin in France, earlier than a Barcelona Grand Départ in 2026, making the UK begin in 2027 back-to-back overseas begins.
Prudhomme ‘optimistic’ 2027 Grand Départ will probably be on free-to-air tv
In a roundtable press convention held on Wednesday to debate the 2027 Grand Départ, it was revealed that talks about taking the Tour to Scotland dated again 18 years.
Prudhomme mentioned {that a} change in UCI guidelines to permit the race to begin on a Friday paved the way in which for taking the Tour to Edinburgh, guaranteeing {that a} day might be put aside for a switch deep into France.
“We by no means thought of it – the identical nation [for both races]. It’s the primary time that the identical nation will probably be internet hosting the Tour for women and men exterior of France. So, for me, it is actually enormous,” Prudhomme mentioned.
“When we began to speak, the foundations of the UCI had been totally different. It was very tough for us to begin the race on a Friday. As quickly because it was determined that, each 4 years the potential for beginning on a Friday, out of the blue Scotland was not all that distant from Paris and from France.
“We constructed a confidence and belief in all these years and I wish to thank Paul and all of the workforce. They by no means gave up on the likelihood they usually all the time upgraded the bid.”
Prudhomme additionally mentioned that the convenience of getting out into the Scottish countryside was an element within the success of the bid, recounting his personal journeys to Edinburgh and Scotland along with his household.
He referred to as the Tour “a sporting occasion that is additionally for individuals who don’t love sports activities”, citing tradition, geography and native satisfaction as necessary elements of the bid and the race itself.
“It’s a magical metropolis. You can go 20 minutes away from town centre and also you’re in the course of nowhere. For the Tour de France and different bike races, it is crucial for the helicopter pictures. Edinburgh and Scotland will provide an impressive backdrop for the Tour.
“The race is the one sporting occasion that can also be for individuals who don’t love sports activities. It’s geography, it is tradition, it is satisfaction. People have satisfaction after they see dwelling from the heli pictures.
“All these items are right here within the British bid – in Scotland, England, and Wales.”
Finally, and maybe most pertinently for British biking followers, Prudhomme mentioned that he is hopeful that the Grand Départ will probably be aired on free-to-air tv within the UK.
The Tour will disappear from free-to-air tv after this summer time, with ITV4 not bidding on tv rights past 2025. That determination, paired with the current shuttering of Eurosport and Warner Bros. Discovery’s shift of Eurosport’s biking protection behind a £30.99 paywall on TNT Sports, means the price of watching racing within the UK skyrocketed from the top of February.
Prudhomme mentioned that discussions will probably be had over the difficulty earlier than the 2027 Tour.
“There will probably be discussions, in fact,” he mentioned. “But I do hope – and I do imagine – that the phases will probably be stay and free-to-air in 2027 within the UK. There will probably be discussions and we’re optimistic.”