Tour de France 2027: Edinburgh's first Grand Départ

For the first time in its 120-year history, the Tour de France is starting in Edinburgh. The 114th edition opens here on Friday 2 July 2027, and it is the third time the UK has hosted the Grand Départ, after London in 2007 and Yorkshire in 2014. This time, the country pulls double duty, hosting both the men's and women's races in the same year for the first time outside France.

The men's race runs from 2 to 25 July, covering 3,479 kilometres before homologation, and finishes on the cobblestones of Montmartre in Paris. Stage 1 is the one to watch locally: 184 kilometres, flat, and taking in a good chunk of the city before heading south. It starts at the Palace of Holyrood, outside the Scottish Parliament and Holyroodhouse, and works its way up the Royal Mile, over North Bridge, along Princes Street, down The Mound and Johnston Terrace with Edinburgh Castle as the backdrop, then through the Old Town via Grassmarket, Victoria Street, George IV Bridge and Chambers Street. From South Bridge it runs to Cameron Toll, turns onto Gilmerton Road, crosses the City Bypass and joins the A7 into Midlothian, passing Newtongrange, Gorebridge, Dobbies Garden Centre and the National Mining Museum Scotland before heading towards the Borders and finishing in Carlisle, outside the medieval castle. The neutralised section in Edinburgh is roughly 13 kilometres, so the real racing only kicks in once the peloton is well on its way out of town.

The opening ceremony is the other big Edinburgh moment, held at Edinburgh Castle on the Castle Esplanade on Wednesday 30 June. It takes in the official Presentation of Riders and a performance by the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, with Highland dancers, massed pipes and drums and some new material. Tickets go on general sale on Friday 30 October from £27, with pre-sale windows opening on 23 October for official newsletter subscribers and on 24 October for members of British Cycling, Scottish Cycling and Beicio Cymru.

Beyond the first stage, the race stays in the UK for two more days. Stage 2 runs 223 hilly kilometres from Keswick to Liverpool through the Lake District National Park, and Stage 3 covers another 223 kilometres from Welshpool to Cardiff, with the climb of Caerffili, 12 kilometres from the finish, likely to be where the favourites go at it. The Tour de France Femmes also has a British Grand Départ, with stages from Leeds to Manchester, Manchester to Sheffield and an 18-kilometre team time trial in London from Westminster to The Mall, before the race heads to the Puy de Dôme.

Once across the Channel, the peloton works through central France, from Cherbourg to the Jura, with the first summit finish on the Grand Colombier, then on to the Massif Central, the Alps and the Pyrenees. The highest point is the Col du Portet at 2,215 metres, the summit finish of stage 18, and the whole race climbs 53,450 metres across 21 stages. Edinburgh, Carlisle, Keswick, Liverpool, Welshpool, Cardiff, Pontorson, Les Saisies and Hasparren all get a stage for the first time. For a race that pulls over 12 million spectators in person and more than 3.5 billion on TV, the 2014 Tour in Great Britain brought in roughly £130 million for the host region and was watched by 3.5 million people. Midlothian is expecting over 67,000 spectators of its own.