Tour Femmes 2027: team time trial in London, Puy de Dôme finale

On 22 October in Paris the 2027 Tour de France was unveiled, and while everyone argued about Edinburgh and the time trials, the women's route did something no edition has ever done: a team time trial. It will happen in London on day three, finishing on The Mall. Here is the route stage by stage, what convinces us and what, in our view, is still to be seen.

Nine days, 1,156 kilometres

The 2027 Tour de France Femmes starts on Friday 30 July and ends on Saturday 7 August: nine stages in nine days, so no rest. According to BrujulaBike the race covers 1,156 kilometres with 17,665 metres of climbing; we added up the stage distances ourselves and the total checks out. The men's Tour, for comparison, starts on 2 July in Edinburgh and ends on 25 July in Paris: the women start five days after the men finish.

England, and the team time trial

The first three stages are in the United Kingdom. On Friday 30 July, Leeds to Manchester, 85.7 kilometres and 1,390 metres of climbing, with a sprinters' finish on Deansgate (BikeRadar figures). The next day, Manchester to Sheffield, 154.4 kilometres and about 3,000 metres of climbing, through the Peak District with Winnats Pass and Snake Pass: race director Marion Rousse called it probably the hardest Grand Départ stage so far, again according to BikeRadar.

On Sunday 1 August in London comes the novelty: about 18 kilometres against the clock, teams of seven riders, finish on The Mall. It has never happened in the history of the women's race, and the full course for that day has not yet been released. We see it as a good sign: a team time trial gives weight to the whole squad, not just the leader, and shows who built the best team. The risk, and this is an opinion, is that an 18-kilometre effort moves little and the next day everything starts again from scratch.

France in six days

After London the race returns to the continent. On Monday 2 August, Le Touquet-Paris-Plage to Calais, 123 kilometres exposed to wind with a pass by Cap Blanc-Nez (Connexion France and BrujulaBike). Then a rolling stage towards Magnanville, and on Wednesday 4 August Orléans to Bourges, the best day for sprinters because it has no categorised climbs.

The Puy de Dôme to close

The final stage, on Saturday 7 August, starts in Clermont-Ferrand and ends on top of the Puy de Dôme: 170 kilometres, eight categorised climbs and 3,840 metres of climbing, according to BrujulaBike and Connexion France. The final climb is 11.3 kilometres long at an average of 7.8%, and per Rousse the last four kilometres are above 12%. She herself said, in essence, that on a climb like that anything can still happen. The Puy de Dôme was used by the men's Tour in 2023 and, according to Connexion France, it is not on the men's 2027 route. In 2026 it was Mont Ventoux: a famous French climb every year seems to have become a tradition.

What convinces us, and what does not

We like the finale: six days of flat roads and wind, then three days when the standings can change. A race that waits for its last stage to decide keeps people in front of the TV, and for those who ride it means even someone who does not follow cycling understands what they are watching.

We have more doubts about the distribution: before the last three days only the Sheffield stage is truly hard, and the first three days seem designed more for the spectacle of the Grand Départ than for the standings. We should add that we read the official ASO details through Cyclingnews (headline only), BikeRadar, Citizen Digital and BrujulaBike, not from the press release; and a few kilometres changing before July is normal.

Give this race a place in your year

If you like to plan, the Tour de France Femmes falls close to our 2027 Calendar, where you find gran fondos and races to build a season around events. For the men's side see our 2027 Tour preview, and the Giro presentation is on Tuesday 3 November: we covered it in the Giro 2027 rumours.

Your turn: does the London team time trial look like a good idea or a showcase experiment? And does the Puy de Dôme on the last day, with those four kilometres above 12%, make you want to ride it? Tell us in the comments: we especially want to know who among you has already ridden in the Auvergne.