The complete routes of the 2027 Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes have been announced, so we have more details about the challenges for the riders, including the three UK stages for each race.
This will be the first time both races have started in the same country, outside France, in the same year and will provide a spectacular six days of top-tier racing for British cycling fans in July and, for the Tour de France Femmes, the start of August.
Here, we'll run through the 2027 men’s and women’s UK stages and what to expect. We’ll also report on reactions to the news, both positive and negative, and offer a history of the Tour’s previous visits to the UK and British riders’ successes at the Tour.
2027 Tour de France Grand Départ stages
The action starts with the team presentations on Wednesday 30 June, which will take place at Edinburgh Castle, ahead of the Grand Départ on Friday. Expect to see the pros warming up and admiring the sights around the city, although if you want to experience the actual presentation you'll have to pay between £27 and £49 for the limited number of available tickets.
You can, though, watch the riders head up the Royal Mile to the castle for free and without reservation.
Stage 1: Edinburgh > Carlisle
- Friday 2 July 2027
- 185km
- 2,000m elevation gain
Stage 1 will head south through the Scottish Borders, taking in towns including Galashiels and Hawick, well known from the Tour of Britain, before running along Hadrian’s Wall and heading into England. There’s one categorised climb on the route – the 2.2km, 6.7% average gradient Côte de Melrose, contributing to around 2,000m of total ascent.
Stage 2: Keswick > Liverpool
- Saturday 3 July 2027
- 223km
- 3,000m elevation gain
Stage 2 is a hillier affair, with 3,000m of climbing and five categorised climbs, predominantly through the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, before a fairly flat run into Liverpool.
Stage 3: Welshpool > Cardiff
- Sunday 4 July 2027
- 223km
- 3,000m elevation gain
Things stay hilly through Wales, with a total of 3,000m of climbing and eight categorised climbs – two with average gradients of over 10%. The longest is the 6.6km Côte de Bannau Brycheiniog, a 3.5% climb taking the riders over the Brecon Beacons. There’s a final 12.5km downhill run into Cardiff.
2027 Tour de France Femmes Grand Départ stages
Starting in Leeds, the three Tour de France Femmes 2027 UK stages includes two crossing the Pennines, before a third-stage team time trial through central London.
Stage 1: Leeds > Manchester
- Friday 30 July 2027
- 86km
- 1,400m elevation gain
Although described in the route guide as 'flat', the short, sharp stage 1 includes three categorised climbs on its way across the Pennines. The run-in to Manchester, finishing on Deansgate, is predominantly downhill though, so it's more likely to end in a sprint than be won by a breakaway or lone rider.
Stage 2: Manchester > Sheffield
- Saturday 31 July 2027
- 154km
- 2,800m elevation gain
Race director Marion Rousse compares this stage's succession of punchy Derbyshire climbs to Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It includes both Winnats Pass and Snake Pass before finishing with the same run-in to Sheffield as used on stage 2 of the 2014 men's Tour de France, concluding with the leg-busting 10.8% Jenkins Road.
Stage 3: London > London team time trial
- Sunday 1 August 2027
- 18km
- 85m elevation gain
The final stage in the UK before the Tour de France Femmes heads to Le Touquet in France showcases the capital's major sights, starting on Parliament Square and finishing on the Mall. It's the first team time trial in the women's race.
It's not clear yet whether the TTT will follow the same format as stage 1 of the 2026 men's race, with individual times taken at the finish line, but the stage awarded to the team with the fastest finisher, or whether it will use the more traditional format with the team all given the same time of (usually) the fourth rider to cross the line.
What has the reaction been to the 2027 Tour de France Grand Départ?
Christian Prudhomme, the Tour de France’s director, has said: “The UK has always welcomed the Tour with passion and pride, and the route details we are revealing today reflect the beauty and diversity of Britain’s terrain. Bringing both Grands Départs here is a testament to the strength of our partnership with British Cycling and the enthusiasm of the UK.”
Official reaction to the announcement has been enthusiastic, with UK government minister for sport Stephanie Peacock stating: “These routes will reach places few other events can and give people another reason to be proud of where they live.”
Scottish first minister John Swinney said: “The Tour de France starting in Edinburgh will be a moment of real national significance and a powerful endorsement of Scotland’s ability to deliver on the biggest international stages.”
Eluned Morgan, first minister for Wales, added: “Wales is proud to host a stage of the Tour de France Grand Depart for the first time in 2027, which will be a fantastic opportunity to showcase our stunning landscapes at one of the world’s biggest sporting events.”
Meanwhile, at the Tour de France route presentation in Paris, Claire Ward, mayor for the East Midlands, said: “Now we know the full route, the excitement is really starting to build. The Tour de France Femmes will take some of the world’s best riders through the Peak District, with thousands of people able to cheer them on from the roadside."
As reported by the local press, reaction in areas the Tours will pass through has been overridingly positive, too.
As with the 2014 Tour, there are plans to use the Tour’s UK stages as a springboard to tackle inactivity and improve mental wellbeing.
Lee Gibbons, interim group chief executive of British Cycling, reiterated the chance to kick-start lasting change: "We want to ensure the legacy extends far beyond the race itself. Investment in safe and accessible places to ride would help more people enjoy the physical, mental and social benefits of cycling while creating healthier and more connected communities."
Not everything in the Tour’s UK garden is rosy, though. As Charlie Allenby pointed out in his March 2025 BikeRadar opinion piece, hosting one Grand Départ, let alone two, is expensive. He cited a reported a hosting bill of €5 million for Florence’s 2024 Grand Départ and £4.2m for the three 2014 UK stages.
Total costs for the 2014 UK Tour stages were estimated at almost £30m, although a cost:benefit analysis cited by Allenby suggested that there was a net economic gain of close to £100m. But with the parlous state of UK road racing, he suggests the money could be better spent promoting UK cycling’s grassroots and nurturing a new generation of star riders.
There have been questions, too, about the state of roads on the routes, specifically Snake Pass in Derbyshire, which is on Stage 2 of the Tour de France Femmes. It’s reported to need up to £100m spending to stabilise the road surface, which is suffering from severe subsidence, and has been reduced in places to a single carriageway.
The Tour may at least provide a kick to get it sorted, with the UK government potentially helping Derbyshire council to foot the repair bill as part of its £32m contribution to the £65m reported cost of hosting the two races' six UK stages.
The Tour de France and the UK
Although this is the first time the Tour de France Femmes has visited the UK, the men’s Tour de France has been in the country on four occasions.
The first visit, in 1974, saw the peloton, with Joseph Bruyère of Belgium in the yellow jersey, spend a day racing laps of the A38 Plympton bypass in Plymouth before returning to France. It was not judged kindly. Eddy Merckx won the race overall for the fifth time.
The Tour didn’t return until 1994, when the riders travelled through the newly opened Channel Tunnel for two stages: Dover to Brighton and a loop starting and finishing in Portsmouth. The race, overall, was won for the fourth consecutive time by Miguel Induráin.
The Tour’s third visit was in 2007, with a Grand Départ prologue in London and a first road stage from London to Canterbury over 203km, won by Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen, before the Tour returned to France, with Alberto Contador winning overall. The five British riders starting the 2007 Tour included two future winners and represented the largest number in 20 years.
By its fourth visit in 2014, Britain had caught the cycling bug and the Yorkshire Grand Départ was a spectacular success, with two stages through the Pennines followed by a third UK stage from Cambridge to London, finishing on the Mall.
British favourite for the 2014 overall win, Chris Froome, crashed three times during the subsequent two stages as the race headed through northern France, and abandoned, opening the way for Vincenzo Nibali to win in Paris.
Britain’s success at the Tour de France
The first Briton to finish the Tour de France, in 1955, and to win a stage, in 1958, was the late Brian Robinson. The first to wear the Tour de France yellow jersey was Tom Simpson in 1962, although that was only for stage 12.
Chris Boardman took the yellow jersey in the 1994 Tour prologue time trial in Lille, the second UK rider to wear it, and held it for the subsequent three stages, although he lost it to Johan Museeuw before the race headed through the Channel Tunnel to the UK on Stage 4.
He was followed the same year by Sean Yates, who also wore the jersey for only one stage. Boardman again took the jersey for a single stage in both 1997 and 1998, following wins in the prologue time trial. He was followed in 2000 by David Millar, who took the jersey in the first-stage time trial and held it for stages 2 and 3.
It wasn’t until 2012 that Britain’s run of wins overall started with Bradley Wiggins, followed in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017 by Chris Froome. He was succeeded in 2018 by Geraint Thomas.
Starting in 2008, Mark Cavendish was racking up stage wins, as well as donning the yellow jersey in 2016. By 2024, he’d reached a total of 35 stage wins, the greatest by any rider at the Tour and almost half the UK riders’ total tally of 78. He also scooped up the Tour’s green points jersey in 2011 and 2021.
Adam Yates (no relation) is the only other British rider to wear yellow, but no British rider has yet won a stage of the Tour de France Femmes or led the race.
