"Magical" Edinburgh will host the start of the Tour de France cycling race in 2027

The Tour de France 2027 (Tour de France) will start in Edinburgh, the first three stages will take place in Scotland, England and Wales, the organizers ASO announced at a ceremony in the Scottish capital on Wednesday, writes UNN with reference to AFP.

Details

The Women's Tour de France will also start from Britain in 2027, the venue is not yet known.

This will be the third men's start from the United Kingdom, but both previous "Grand Departs" took place in England, making these stages the first to ever take place in Scotland and Wales.

The first two stages of 2007 took place in London, and Yorkshire hosted the start in 2014.

According to the official report, the Grand Depart of the 2014 race attracted 3.5 million spectators to the roadside, against the background of two stages taking place in Yorkshire and a third between Cambridge and London.

"The success among the public was absolutely phenomenal," Tour Director Christian Prudhomme told AFP.

"We were faced with walls of people, a large mass of people," he noted.

Prudhomme said that leaving from the "charming city" of Edinburgh was something he had in mind for some time, but its remoteness worked against it.

"Scotland was already a candidate against Yorkshire for 2014, and one of the main differences at that time was the distance from France," Prudhomme said.

"But since then, new UCI rules have appeared, which mean that once every four years we have a "joker" that starts on Friday, which fundamentally changes the situation," he noted.

The ASO organizers used an exception in 2022 to start in Copenhagen instead of Saturday. They will use it again in 2027 to start on Friday, July 2, 2027, three stages on British soil.

Details about the cities are not yet disclosed, but the peloton will head straight to England, where the second stage will also take place.

The third stage on Sunday, July 4, will pass through Wales for the first time, where, according to Prudhomme, the route architects will "use hills and very steep slopes so that the favorites in the general classification are side by side".

Monday will be a day off dedicated to transferring the peloton to France.

The 2025 Tour de France will start in Lille, and the start in Edinburgh will be the fifth foreign start in six years after Copenhagen in 2022, Bilbao in 2023, Florence in 2024 and Barcelona in 2026.

Prudhomme says he is "proud" of these international starts, which he believes not only help "increase the credibility" of the Tour de France, but also bring a lot of money for ASO - about six million euros ($6.5 million) for Bilbao and Florence.

Mark Cavendish, who won a record 35 stages of the Tour de France and is considered the best sprinter in the history of the competition, said: "I think both of my British championships took place here in Scotland, and most of all, I have always been incredibly received here, felt a real human attitude and ardent support".