Why is the 2027 Tour de France start historic?

It will be the first time the men's Tour de France has begun in Scotland.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme also confirmed the Edinburgh start will be the most northerly in the race's history.

He said: “Just a few weeks apart, the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will each take their respective pelotons on a journey through the roads of the United Kingdom.

“Along with what we anticipate will be a warm and massive welcome for the champions, Great Britain also offers us a symbol that further ties the two races together.

“From the start on 2 July at the foot of Edinburgh Castle, which will be the northernmost in the history of the Tour, to a team time trial in London on 1 August, which will undoubtedly bring to mind the one where the champions battled it out twenty years earlier, nearly 900 kilometres will be covered.

“Needless to say, there will be thousands of thrills and emotions.”