There’s much excitement amongst the Welsh cycling community as the sport’s most famous event will pass through the country for the first time.
The Tour de France’s Grand Depart (the start of the race) will take place in the UK in 2027.
The first stage gets underway in Edinburgh, before riders make their way into England and then through Wales to finish in Cardiff, before heading back to France.
This will be the third time the Tour’s opening stage has taken place in the UK, the last in 2014, when the race began in Leeds and included stages in Sheffield and London.
As well as the men’s race, part of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will also take place in the UK in two years.
This is the first time both Grand Departs will take place in the same country outside of France, with organisers expecting millions to line the streets of the route.
The Tour de France made landfall in England for the first time in 1974. It was a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance consisting of a single stage held on a circuit in Plymouth. Twenty years later, the riders of the 1994 Tour marked the recent opening of the Channel Tunnel with two stages, one ending in Brighton and the other in Portsmouth.
Britain has hosted two memorable Grands Départs of the Tour de France in the 21st century, first in London in 2007 and then in Yorkshire in 2014. In summer 2027, the race will take this relationship to a whole new level, exploring three of the four Home Nations. The peloton of the Tour will make its first foray into Scotland, converging on Edinburgh for the beginning of an adventure that will also take it to Wales and England.
The Tour de France typically begins outside of France every other year, with Grands Departs having been held in countries like Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Spain since the UK last hosted.
Last year’s Grand Depart took place in Florence, Italy, and the 2026 race is set to start in Barcelona.
