Cat Ferguson leads British hopes as UK start to 2027 Tour de France Femmes set to be toughest in history

Further details of the 2027 Tour de France Femmes Grand Départ were revealed on Monday, with the UK hosting the first three stages of the race and London set to be the scene of its first-ever team time trial. 2027 marks the first time the women’s race – by then in its sixth year – will step foot on British soil, while the men’s race will return for the third time this century, after starts in 2007 and 2014. It will mark the first time that both races will kick off in the same country, outside France.

The race is expected to be the most-attended women’s sporting event ever held in Britain, with British Cycling and ASO – the Tour’s organisers – estimating some 10 million people will line the streets to cheer on the peloton. Stage one of the Tour de France Femmes will begin in Leeds and head to Manchester, before stage two moves from Manchester to Sheffield via the Peak District. Stage three will be a team time trial passing by many of London’s iconic landmarks.

From a British point of view the presence of 19-year-old Movistar rider Cat Ferguson, who could make her Tour debut in 2027, will mark a full circle moment from that 2014 edition. Then aged eight, the Yorkshire native was inspired by watching the men’s peloton race past on her home roads, and hopes that the first edition of the Tour de France Femmes to visit the UK will have a monumental impact on women’s cycling in years to come. The first three stages of the 2027 Tour de France Femmes will take place in the UK (ASO) She told press on Monday: “Arguably we’re going to the two most iconic places in the UK, Yorkshire and London.

I remember when the Tour came to Yorkshire in 2014, every time I go back home and train on those roads, I remember sitting on the side of the road with my parents. “I’ll give it my all to be on the start line. I don’t think I'll ever get an opportunity [again] to race on my home roads, with local voices and accents cheering me on.