Tour de France UK routes revealed with Edinburgh and Leeds starts
The UK routes for next year's Tour de France have been revealed, with Edinburgh starting the men's race and Leeds starting the women's race, including three stages each and a London team time trial.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Details of the UK stages for next year's Tour de France have been announced, with Edinburgh and Leeds hosting the Grand Departs for the men's and women's races respectively.
The men's race will have three British stages. Stage one starts in Edinburgh and travels through Dumfries and Galloway before crossing into Cumberland and finishing in Carlisle on 2 July. Stage two begins in Keswick in the Lake District, follows the Morecambe Bay coastline, passes the edge of the Pennines and finishes on the Strand in Liverpool. Stage three starts in Welshpool, takes in eight categorised climbs through the South Wales valleys and ends in Cardiff. All the remaining men's stages will be in France.
The women's race will start from the Headrow in central Leeds. The first stage covers 85 kilometres through Huddersfield, across the Pennines and through Rochdale before finishing on Deansgate, Manchester city centre's longest street. Stage two is expected to be very tough, with almost 3,000 metres of climbing, taking in Winnats Pass and the Snake Pass in the Peak District before finishing in Sheffield. The final British stage will be a first-ever women's team time trial in London on 1 August, with the peloton passing the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and Tower Bridge.
Organisers hope the six British stages will draw large crowds and leave a cycling legacy. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected in London for the women's team time trial.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| All remaining stages of the men's Tour de France will take place in France. | |
| London will host the first women's team time trial. | |
| The men's Tour de France will begin in Edinburgh, while the women's race will start in Leeds. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
BBC ONE West gave the story a detailed route-by-route treatment, naming the start and finish towns for all six British stages and stressing the historic nature of the men's and women's races coming to Britain. The tone was enthusiastic and legacy-focused, with the correspondent highlighting spectator interest and the chance to inspire new cyclists. It did not carry any sceptical or cost-focused angle.
- “this has been described as an historic moment for cycling, you know, because there will be three British stages for the men's race and three British stages for the women's race.”
- “hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line the streets of London for a first-ever women's team time trial.”
- “it's hoped that this will inspire all the spectators bringing these six stages to Britain and leave a cycling legacy as well.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.