The Tour de France 2027 opening ceremony and team presentation in Edinburgh ahead of the British Grand Départ will be a paid-for, ticketed event, the race organisers have announced.
Around 9,000 tickets are expected to go on sale, with prices starting at £27.
The event, scheduled to take place from 18:30 on Wednesday 30 June, will be held on the esplanade outside Edinburgh Castle, and will involve the producers of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, a bagpipes and dance show that performs every August in the city.
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Tickets will go on priority pre-sale this Friday 23 October to people who subscribe to the Grand Départ GB newsletter. Visit the Le Tour GB website to sign up.
Members of British Cycling, Scottish Cycling and Beicio Cymru will then have a pre-sale window from midday the following day, Saturday 24 October.
On Monday 26 October, the pre-sale will open up to customers of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Any remaining tickets will then go on general sale at midday on Friday 30 October.
Fans without tickets will still be able to see the riders as they approach Edinburgh Castle on the Royal Mile, but will not able to access the presentation.
The massed pipe band at the Royal Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, who are organising the Tour’s presentation
(Image credit: The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo)
It is highly uncommon, though not unprecedented, for the Tour de France’s opening ceremony and team presentation to require tickets.
The event consists of all 23 teams (184 riders) riding on stage to be introduced to the crowds. Last year’s presentation took place at the foot of the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain. In Lille the year before it was in the city’s Grand Place, while in Florence in 2024 it was at the Piazzale Michelangelo. All three were open free-of-charge to the public.
The last time the Tour started in the UK, however, the opening ceremony and team presentation were ticketed, with more than 10,000 people attending inside Leeds Arena.
The race will begin on Friday 1 July, two days after the opening ceremony, leaving Edinburgh for a stage finish in Carlisle. Stage two will stretch the following day from Keswick to Liverpool, and stage three from Welshpool to Cardiff.
The full route for next year’s Tour de France will be officially announced in a ceremony in Paris at 10:00 (BST) this Thursday 22 October.
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