There’s always suspense around the Tour de France route announcement. It’s the moment teams begin to hatch their plans, riders get their first sniff of stage opportunities, and fans plot out their summer holidays, picking the marquee climbs where they want to watch the race.
In less than two weeks, the full Tour route for 2027 will be officially unveiled. The race organiser, ASO, has tried to keep the details under wraps until the ceremony inside the Palais des Congrès in Paris, France. But try as they may, they’re defenceless to the rumour mill, which has already been turning for months.
Thanks to the work of local journalists, and the website Velowire which cobbles all the reports together, below is what’s being touted for next summer’s race.
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If they’re right, the race’s 114th edition could bring the return of some key climbs – one of which is considered among the hardest in France.
What we already know
The Tour last came to the UK in 2014.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The only information that has been confirmed by Tour organiser ASO is that next year’s Grand Départ will take place in the UK.
Stage one will begin in Edinburgh on Friday 2 July and finish in Carlisle; stage two will stretch the following day from Keswick to Liverpool; and stage three from Welshpool to Cardiff.
Covering most of the length of the UK, these opening three stages are long – 183km, 223km and 223km – and designed to showcase as much of the country as possible. “It will be unforgettable,” race director Christian Prudhomme promised earlier this year.
There will then be a rest day on Monday 5 July, before the race packs up and travels home to France.
|
Stage |
Date |
Start |
Finish |
Distance |
|
1 |
Friday 2 July |
Edinburgh |
Carlisle |
183km |
|
2 |
Saturday 3 July |
Keswick |
Liverpool |
223km |
|
3 |
Sunday 4 July |
Welshpool |
Cardiff |
223km |
The rumours
Pogačar is one of two riders to win on the Col du Portet at the Tour, along with Nairo Quintana.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Where the Tour goes after Cardiff, for the moment, is still an unconfirmed mystery, but tip-offs from local news outlets can help us piece together a fuller route.
Tendance Ouest is almost certain that stage four will both start and finish in Cherbourg, a hop across the English Channel on Normandy’s coast. This makes sense for logistical reasons, with ferries running directly from the UK to the city. Tendance Ouest reported in July this year that hotels in the area were already being booked for the time of the race.
Brittany seems likely to be the next stop on the route. On stage five, the race could have its first uphill finish, albeit on the short, category-four Côte du Cadoudal (1.7km at 6.2%) in Plumelec, which hosted the first stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2025, write France 3 Normandie and Ouest-France.
The race then looks set to move inland along the Loire Valley, with a stage finish in Angers on day six, according to Ouest-France, an individual time trial in the Loir-et-Cher departement, according to La Nouvelle République, and a finish in Le Creusot, according to Creusot Infos.
Having entered the Pyrenees early in 2026, it seems its the Alps’ turn to step up first in 2027, with the high mountains slated from stage nine. This, however, is where Velowire says the rumours become “unclear” on specific stages.
A summit finish to the ski resort of Samoëns 1600 is possible – the town hall publicly announced at the the start of the year that they had put themselves forward to ASO. The climb (9.9km at 9%) has never previously featured in the Tour, but has been in the Critérium du Dauphiné, with Primož Roglič the last to win at its summit in 2024.
Le Dauphiné expects there to be a visit to the Haute-Savoie department, likely for a dress rehearsal of the 2027 UCI World Championships course on the Côte de Domancy (2.5km at 9.4%).
The same publication has also reported a return for the Col du Granon (11.3km at 9.2%). Used twice before at the Tour, in 1986 and 2022, it was most recently the site of a rare Tadej Pogačar collapse at the hands of the then-called Jumbo-Visma, in an edition Jonas Vingegaard went on to win. A rematch on the same slopes might be too good a plotline for ASO to ignore.
Pogačar lost the yellow jersey to Vingegaard on the Col du Granon on 2022.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
News reports then agree on the route making its way west towards the Pyrenees, via stage finishes in Valence (Ici Drôme-Ardèche), Mende (Midi Libre) and Albi (La Dépêche).
The first summit finish in the Pyrenees is expected to come at the start of the final week at Piau-Engaly, according to La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées. It’s the highest ski resort in the region, at over 1,800m, and last hosted the Tour in 1999, when Spanish rider Fernando Escartín was the first to finish the 19km uphill slog.
The race’s Queen stage, it appears, will once again star just days before the Paris finale. Expected to come on stage 19 or perhaps earlier, La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées is pointing to a return of the Col du Portet, on a gruelling day that could also feature the Col d’Aubisque and the Col du Tourmalet.
Towering over 2,200m, the Col du Portet (16.3km at 8.5%) is heralded as the second hardest climb in France, according to the index used by PJAMM Cycling, who list only the Col de la Loze above it. The ‘King of the Pyrenees’ will bring fonder memories for Pogačar, certainly compared to his nightmares of the Col du Granon; he won on the Portet at the Tour in 2021, his fifth stage win of a tally that now counts 26.
Stage 20 is set to take the race north, although specific rumours are scarce, before the traditional curtain closer in Paris.
Given the success of the Montmartre circuit in the last two editions, the Tour looks likely to stick to its new fan-favourite plan.
Find out how many of these rumours actually come to fruition when the official route is announced at 10am (BST) on Thursday 22nd October.
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