Tour de France 2027 Starts in Edinburgh, the Most Northerly Start Ever
The 2027 Tour de France will start in Edinburgh, the most northerly Grand Départ, or opening stage, in the race's history. The routes for the men's and women's Tours were unveiled in Paris on 22 October 2026, according to The Guardian.
The men's race is the 114th edition of the Tour. It runs from Friday 2 July to Sunday 25 July 2027. It is the fifth time in six years that the Tour has started outside France.
Britain gets the first three stages. Stage 1 runs 184km from Edinburgh to Carlisle and starts at the foot of Edinburgh Castle. It includes the 2.2km Côte de Melrose climb. The teams presentation will also take place at the castle.
Stage 2 is 223km from Keswick to Liverpool, on Saturday 3 July. It has five categorised climbs, which the Tour rates by difficulty, and about 2,800 metres of climbing. Stage 3 runs 223km from Welshpool to Cardiff on Sunday 4 July, with eight categorised hills and about 3,000 metres of ascent, according to the BBC. Together the three British stages cover more than 600km.
The women's Tour starts on 30 July with a stage from Leeds to Manchester. Stage 2 runs 154.4km from Manchester to Sheffield and climbs Winnats Pass in the Peak District. That climb is 1.4km long at an average gradient of 12.3%. The British section ends on 1 August with a team time trial, a race against the clock where teams ride together, on an 18km circuit in central London. The route goes from Whitehall past Trafalgar Square and Tower Bridge, and finishes on The Mall. The women's race has nine stages in total.
It is the first time both the men's and women's Tours have visited the same country outside France in the same year. Earlier Tour stages in the UK were held in London in 1974, 1994 and 2007, and in Yorkshire for the 2014 Grand Départ.
The men's race has two individual time trials, where riders go alone against the clock. Stage 7 is 38km and flat, running from Blois to Chambord. Stage 16 is 33km around Toulouse. Stage 4 arrives on the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy and is largely ridden along the coast, from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin.
The mountains come in the second half. The route has 28 climbs and 53,450 metres of total climbing. There are six mountain stages with three summit finishes. Stage 9 finishes on the Grand Colombier in the Jura range. Stage 18, from Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan Col du Portet, reaches the highest point of the race, 2,215 metres above sea level. The route includes the Tourmalet. It does not include Alpe d'Huez, Mont Ventoux, the Galibier or the Izoard, four climbs that often decide the Tour.
The race ends as it has in recent years. The final stage, from Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to the Champs-Élysées in Paris, includes the Montmartre climb for the third year running.
For the women's race, the mountains come at the end. Stage 8 runs 151km from La Bourboule to Clermont-Ferrand, with 3,000 metres of climbing. Stage 9 runs 170km from Clermont-Ferrand to the Puy de Dôme, with 3,840 metres of climbing. The women's Tour finishes on that peak.
What this means for riders is simple. The flat 38km time trial on stage 7 will reward the strongest riders against the clock, and the overall standings, or GC, are often shaped by time gained or lost in such races. The first big test of the general classification would come later, in the Pyrenees, where the Tour's highest point sits.
Stage 1 of the 2027 Tour de France Femmes is 85.7km, with three climbs, including the 3.2km Côte de Meltham at an average gradient of 8.4%.
The 2028 Tour de France Grand Départ will be held in Champagne Grand Est. The third edition of L'Étape du Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, a mass ride open to amateur cyclists, will take place on 8 August 2027 in the Puy-de-Dôme.
