2027 Tour de France route: Edinburgh to Paris

One consistent aspect of the pro cycling in the modern era is that serious planning for the next season truly begins in late October when ASO unveils the race routes for the next Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.

With the presentations for the 2027 races now completed – during the traditional formal gathering at the Palais des Congress in Paris – it’s essentially Game On for riders and their teams. The routes for #TDF2027 (2-25 July) and #TDFF2027 (30 July-7 August) are revealed, the key challenges listed… and, although it’s the off-season for most of cycling’s elite, the battle for the yellow jerseys has effectively begun.

Some elements were already known. In 2027, for example, both the men’s and women’s races will begin in the UK. Scotland will host the Grand Départ for the first time with Edinburgh to feature prominently in the lead-up to the opening stage – which, like in 2023 when the Tour started in Copenhagen, Denmark, will begin on a Friday. The Scottish start will boast the most northerly point the Tour de France has ever ventured (decimal latitude: 55.9533° N). It will be a stark contrast to 2026, when Barcelona hosted the opening stages and the men’s peloton raced to Tarragona (decimal latitude: 41.1189° N), marking the furthest south the Tour has been.

There will be three stages in the UK before a transfer/rest day on the first Monday (5 July).

Next June Ride Media – now part of Adventure Entertainment, publishers of the Official Tour de France Guide Australian edition – will bring you the ultimate preview of both the men’s and women’s Tours de France with the 25th annual ‘Tour Guide’.

Tour de France Hommes: 2027 race route

114th Tour de France: stage by stage

Stage 1	Friday	02 July	Edinburgh to Carlisle, UK	185km
Stage 2	Saturday	03 July	Keswick to Liverpool, UK	223km
Stage 3	Sunday	04 July	Welshpool to Cardiff, UK	223km
	Monday	05 July	Rest / Transfer Day
Stage 4	Tuesday	06 July	Cherbourg-en-Cotentin to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin	171km
Stage 5	Wednesday	07 July	Pontorson to Plumelec	178km
Stage 6	Thursday	08 July	Vannes to Angers	193km
Stage 7	Friday	09 July	Blois to Chambord	38km
Stage 8	Saturday	10 July	Bourges to Le Creusot	224km
Stage 9	Sunday	11 July	Villars-les-Dombes Parc des Oiseaux to Grand Colombier	162km
	Monday	12 July	Rest Day
Stage 10	Tuesday	13 July	Annecy to Sallanches	171km
Stage 11	Wednesday	14 July	Cluses to Les Saisies	150km
Stage 12	Thursday	15 July	Chambéry to Valence	162km
Stage 13	Friday	16 July	Aubenas to Montpellier	164km
Stage 14	Saturday	17 July	Montpellier to Mende	199km
Stage 15	Sunday	18 July	Rodez to Albi	169km
	Monday	19 July	Rest Day
Stage 16	Tuesday	20 July	Toulouse to Toulouse	33km
Stage 17	Wednesday	21 July	Muret to Pau	186km
Stage 18	Thursday	22 July	Pau to Saint-Lary-Soulan Col du Portet	174km
Stage 19	Friday	23 July	Hasparren to Laruns	160km
Stage 20	Saturday	24 July	Maubourguet to Libourne	198km
Stage 21	Sunday	25 July	Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines to Paris, Champs-Élysées	116km

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If you have followed the race in Australia, chances are you have a few copies of the Tour Guide still stacked on the shelves, as it is published as a collectable, souvenir. It has become something of an almanac of the larger cycling season, with complete team lists (ie. details of all the riders who are eligible to start) and a comprehensive summary of the race route (maps, profiles, TV viewing times, etc).

As well as being the biggest cycling magazine in Australia every year, it is also the best-selling, highlighting the interest generated by two races that are a showcase of what is possible on a bike.

(Back issues are available via the Adventure Shop.)

The Tour Guide (by Ride Media) was first published in Australia in 2003 as part of the celebrations for the Centennaire, the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France. It has since become part of an annual tradition for sport fans around the country. Watching the Tour live from Australia presents some challenges; it’s a late-night experience and yet SBS’s commitment to the coverages has long been rewarded with strong viewing numbers even when stages finish, on average around 1.30am (AEST).

After three days and three stages that send the peloton south from Scotland via England and Wales, the 2027 Tour will have a ‘rest day’, largely because of the logistical challenge that presents when moving the entire TDF entourage across the channel and back to France.

Then we are introduced to names more familiar to the Tour with visits to nine regions and 31 departments of France.

It’s an itinerary that includes seven ‘flat’ stages, six ‘hilly’ stages, six ‘mountain’ stages (three with a summit finish), and two individual time trials. We’ll assess each day of the race in greater detail later but one of the highlights of the Parisian finale (Sunday 25 July) is the exciting news that the closing laps of the French capital will again feature the climb to Montmarte.

As has been the case for two years, since the Tour’s final stage returned to Paris (after a one-year break with tradition largely because of the Paris Olympics), the finishing laps on the Champs-Élysées will be combined with three circuits featuring the climb that featured during road races of the Games in 2024.

Six days between men’s and women’s races

Both race routes were unveiled at the Palais des Congress in Paris last week. The itinerary for the first Tour of 2027 is listed above, and you can find details of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift (30 July-7 August) on the Ride Media site… with much more analysis to come, including some tips for anyone planning on making the trip to France to watch the world’s finest cyclists in action.

#TDF2027 mountain features

Last year’s double dose of Alpe d’Huez in the days before the stunning Parisian finale was a clear salute to one of the most celebrated site of the Tour de France. When this ascent in the Alps is listed on the itinerary it generates a buzz and holiday plans often come to mind.

This year there are only two true mountain-top stage finishes, and neither of them in a place rich with Tour history. The route for 2027 has a total of 53,450 metres elevation gain, so the climbing legs are sure to be tested in a sequence that seems one of Christian Prudhomme’s favourite: Jura, Alps, Pyrenees.

Stay tuned for a greater analysis of the rate route in future features. There’s a lot of cycling scheduled before next year’s Tour de France Grand Départ in Scotland, but by July it promises to be another contest that pits the five-time champion Tadej Pogačar and his all-conquering cohort from UAE Team Emirates against the rest of the peloton.

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