Edinburgh and Wales expected to host opening stages of 2027 men’s Tour de France, as Leeds set for Tour Femmes Grand Départ

Cycling’s biggest race could be set for a very British summer in two years’ time, after reports emerged this weekend that Leeds has been pencilled in to host the opening stage of the 2027 Tour de France Femmes.

That first-ever UK start for the women’s Tour could follow hot on the heels of a return to Britain for the men’s race, sources suggesting that a Grand Départ is being considered for 2027 that would feature stages in England, Wales, and Scotland, with Edinburgh reported to be in line to host the first day of racing.

The prospect of the Tour de France visiting Great Britain in 2027 increased dramatically on Friday evening, when the BBC reported that “advanced” negotiations are continuing between British sports authorities and Tour organisers ASO about a proposed men’s Grand Départ in the UK.

Since then, despite no official details emerging yet about which cities or towns could host the race, a source has told road.cc that the Grand Départ could be a properly British affair, with one stage set to take place in England, one in Wales, and one in Scotland.

The source said that funding has been set aside by the Welsh government to host a stage of the 2027 Tour, as part of wider support for cycling infrastructure and events in the country.

According to The Times, a source has also claimed that they are expecting Edinburgh to feature in the plans, with the Scottish capital reportedly pencilled in to host the race’s opening stage.

Fans at the team presentations, 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, Men's Elite Road Race, Edinburgh to Glasgow, Scotland (credit: Pauline Ballet/SWpix.com)

In 2023, Scotland hosted the UCI’s inaugural combined world cycling championships, which brought together almost all of cycling’s different disciplines as part of one event for the first time, with the elite men’s road race starting in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park, before heading to Glasgow for a series of circuits in the city centre.

Following Scotland’s successful hosting of the in 2023 worlds, Scottish Cycling’s executive Nick Rennie announced that he was hopeful that the Tour de France would come to Scotland in the near future.

 “There are a lot of conversations which are hugely exciting – even something as huge as the Tour de France might be an option for a few stages,” Rennie said.

If the 2027 men’s Tour does kick off in Britain, it would mark the fifth time cycling’s biggest race has ventured onto British soil, and the third time it has hosted the opening Grand Départ stages, after London in 2007 and Yorkshire in 2014.

Leeds – the scene of the opening stage of the 2014 Tour, as well as the start of the Yorkshire-based elite men’s world road race championships in 2019 – is also reportedly in line to host part of the English leg of the 2027 Grand Départ.

Tour de France Stage 1 Leeds depart 2014 (picture courtesy Welcome to Yorkshire) (credit: road.cc)

More significantly, the Yorkshire Post has reported that Leeds looks set to be confirmed as the host of the opening stage of the 2027 Tour de France Femmes, marking the first time the women’s Tour, in any of its various guises, has started in the UK.

“We understand that the UK is in a strong position to host the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes in 2027,” Leeds Central and Headingley MP Alex Sobel told the newspaper.

“The best ever Grand Départ was in 2014 from Leeds. It would be great for the Tour to return to Leeds if the UK was successful.”

Yorkshire’s former world champion Lizzie Deignan, who is set to retire from racing at the end of this season, would be expected to play a leading role if the Tour Femmes does come to Leeds to two years’ time.

Lizzie Deignan with Paris-Roubaix Femmes cobble trophy 2020 (Copyright CorVos, SWpix.com).JPG (credit: road.cc)

Last year, British Cycling’s CEO Jon Dutton confirmed that the governing body was “supporting UK Sport and partners to see whether it is feasible to bring the Tour de France Grand Départ here for both the men and the women”

“Events are expensive, we’ve got to make a business case back to the government that it delivers more than those amazing moments,” he said.

According to a report published following the Yorkshire Grand Départ in 2014, almost five million people turned out to watch the three British stages by the roadside (though the total number of individual spectators amounted to a still very substantial 3.5 million), landing the region a £102 million economic boost in the process.

Meanwhile, Cambridge, Essex, and London, the scene of the final stage before the race returned to France, also benefitted by £30.5 million thanks to the Tour’s presence.

Tour de France 2014, Leeds Grand Depart (credit: Dean Atkins/SWpix.com)

National funding body UK Sport has been in negotiations with ASO since identifying the 2027 Tour as part of a list of international event hosting targets last year, with British Cycling backing the plans.

“We have made no secret of our ambition to host the Tour de France Grand Depart in Britain, to inspire more people to enjoy cycling and bring lasting benefits to communities,” UK Sport said in a statement.

“However, we respect this is a matter for the ASO and we remain committed to working hard to develop opportunities that can bring the joy of cycling to everyone.”

An official announcement on the destination of the 2027 men’s and women’s Tour de France’s Grands Départs is expected to be made in a matter of weeks.

While Leeds appears an extremely likely prospect for the Tour Femmes, reports have also linked Rotterdam to the start of the men’s race, after the Dutch city hosted the women’s Grand Départ in 2024.

> “The Tour is the only race that matters. And that’s gone now”: Ned Boulting on the end of free-to-air Tour de France coverage in the UK and his “deep sense of loss”

Murmurings that the Tour could return to Britain have been growing louder in recent years, after the UK government in 2021 confirmed that it was considering bidding to host the 2026 Grand Départ (which has since been awarded to Barcelona), when reports first emerged of plans for stages that would take in England, Scotland, and Wales.

In 2022, Northern Ireland – which hosted the start of the 2014 Giro d’Italia, two months before the Tour’s Yorkshire Grand Départ – also emerged as a contender for either the 2026 or 2027 Tours, in what would have been a cross-border venture with the Republic of Ireland.

However, that joint bid was ultimately scrapped early last year, amid funding issues and the uncertainty surrounding the political impasse which had mothballed Northern Ireland’s government throughout the previous two years.  

Earlier this week, Tour organisers ASO announced the first official details of the Grand Départ of the 2026 edition of the French grand tour, which will get underway in Barcelona with a groundbreaking team time trial, the first time the Tour has ever started with a team effort.

The following day will see another historic stage start in Tarragona, which will be the most southerly point ever visited by the Tour, before the peloton head back to Barcelona for a finishing circuit on the steep gradients of the iconic Montjuïc hill.