British opening, three summit finishes and 71km of time trials: Action-packed Tour de France 2027 route announced

The 2027 Tour de France will sweep through Great Britain before crossing central France and heading to the Alps, the Massif Central and then the Pyrenees, it was revealed on Thursday.

The route of the 114th edition was announced in a presentation at the Palais des Congrès in Paris by race director Christian Prudhomme.

The race will see the most time trialling since the 2012 edition, offered up via two individual time trials, a brutal Pyrenean Queen Stage which finishes atop the Col du Portet on day 18, with testing stages between Edinburgh and Paris. It is the fourth foreign Grand Départ in five years, and the third in Britain.

Aiming to break the record for Tour wins will be Tadej Pogačar, who won for a fifth time this season; between him and a sixth yellow jersey is an estimated 3,479km of racing with 54,450m of elevation across 21 days.

According to the organisers, there are seven flat stages, six hilly days, six mountain stages, including three summit finishes, as well as the two individual time trials. There are three rest days, including one on the opening Monday to move the peloton from Cardiff to Normandy. It’s likely that there will be six sprint stages, which would match the number from 2026.

The race begins in Edinburgh on Friday 2 July 2027, with a stage expected to be for the fast men, and ends three weeks later on Sunday 25 July in Paris, after a third year of the Montmartre circuit.

This year, the Pyrenees will be the decisive mountain range, with the final stage there on the 19th day. However, there are key days throughout, with Classics-style days in between, and the Alps and the Massif Central to be pivotal. There are also nods to the World Championships, with the ‘Super Worlds’ taking place in France in August; there’s a stage that finishes in Sallanches, where the road race will be.

Week one

The first stage will be an opportunity for a sprinter to grab control of the yellow jersey, after a few modest climbs through the Scottish Borders; could it be a chance for Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) to make British dreams come true in Carlisle?

Liverpool is next, after a trip through the Lake District, with a range of finishes on the cards, from a bunch sprint to a lone winner after five categorised climbs. Stage three sees yet more climbing, with seven categorised ascents through Wales, from Welshpool to Cardiff. It has the potential to be a general classification day, or at least one full of tension for them – expect a hard battle for the win and for yellow at the end of the last day in Britain.

After an early rest day as the teams and riders head across the Channel to Normandy, there will be a day on the French coast, with the wind and small climbs likely to be an issue for the fast men hoping to win, with an uphill finish to end.

Stage five is definitely one for the puncheurs, with a double ascent of the Côte de Cadoudal on the menu, which was used at the Tour de France Femmes last year, when Marianne Vos won. The next day, stage six sees the peloton head into central France from Vannes to Angers, almost due east, which should be a sprint stage.

The first individual time trial comes on stage seven, with 38km against the clock on an undulating course through the Loire Valley, finishing in front of the Château de Chambord. The next day sees the longest stage of the Tour at 224km, which will be another hilly affair for the Classics men; Matej Mohorič won here in 2021.

Stage nine concludes the opening week with the first summit finish of the race, just one of three in the race remember, on the Grand Colombier (17.4km at 7.1%) to give the GC riders something to think about on the rest day.

Week two

The second rest day of three is in the Haut-Savoie, the site of a rest day last year too. Stage 10 begins in Annecy, heading to Sallanches for 171km through the mountains, with five classified climbs.

Stage 11 is on Bastille Day, so that means more climbing, including the Montée de Bisanne (12.4km at 8.3%). There is technically no summit finish, with 4km after the top of the final climb. Race director Christian Prudhomme highlights the descent into the final climb, so watch out.

After those days of climbing, there’s a bit of a breather on the run-in to Valence, which should be a day for the sprinters, if the wind doesn’t blow too much. Jonathan Milan won here in 2025.

Another sprint is expected on stage 13 to Montpellier, which is very flat over 164km, although the win could upset things again. The finish is apparently in the city centre, which should be fun.

Stage 14 is back to climbing, however, with a finish up to the altiport at Mende, on the edge of the Massif Central, the site of Michael Matthews’ win from the breakaway in 2022. The next day is another day for the attackers in the region, stage 15 from Rodez to Albi, with descending just as important as climbing.

Week three

The time trial returns on stage 16, after a rest day in Toulouse, with 33km on a largely-flat course before the Côte de Pech-David, with ramps of 20%, which will put pause into the minds of rouleurs.

The final week continues with a sprint stage to Pau on day 17, so often a home for the Tour, where Olav Kooij won most recently. The gateway to the Pyrenees is then used for stage 18, with more than 5,000m of climbing all the way to the Col du Portet (16km at 8.7%), which is the highest point of this year’s Tour. This is the Queen Stage on paper.

There is one more mountains day on stage 19, with 4,300m on the cards from Hasparren to Laruns, via the Col de Soudet (15.1km at 7.2%) and the Cold de Marie Blanque (7.7km at 8.6%).

Stage 20 is a sprint stage to Libourne, home to a finish for just the third time, before a gigantic transfer up to Paris for stage 21’s Montmarte extravaganza. Three ascents of the cobbles to finish of the Tour.

Tour de France 2027 stage table