The Tour de France is an annual road bicycle race held over 23 days in July. Established in 1903 by newspaper L'Auto, the Tour is the most well-known and prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours"; the others are the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España. The race usually covers approximately 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi), passing through France and neighbouring countries such as Belgium. The race is broken into day-long segments, called stages. Individual finishing times for each stage are totalled to determine the overall winner at the end of the race.
The course changes every year, almost always finishing in Paris; since 1975 (except for 2024) it has finished along the Champs-Élysées. The start of the course is known as the Grand Départ. Since the 1950s it has typically taken place in a different town each year, and since the 1970s it has been common to award the Grand Départ to cities outside France as a way of increasing international interest in the competition and the sport. In all, the Grand Départ has occurred outside France 26 times: 13 times in the Low Countries, 4 times in Germany, and 9 times elsewhere. The right to host the Grand Départ is now highly sought after, with cities bidding to host, and has been shown to increase economic activity as well as interest in cycling in the host area.
In recent years, cities outside France have paid organisers Amaury Sport Organisation around €6 million to host the Grand Départ. French cities pay less, with Brest paying €3.6 million in 2021 and Lille paying €4.2 million in 2025.
In 2024, the first Grand Départ outside France for the Tour de France Femmes took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Host cities
Tour de France
+Tour de France Grands Départs hostsYearCountryRegionGrand Départ host1903 Île-de-FranceMontgeron1904 Île-de-FranceMontgeron1905 Île-de-FranceNoisy-le-Grand1906 Île-de-FranceNeuilly-sur-Seine (Vélodrome Buffalo)1907 Île-de-FranceNeuilly-sur-Seine (Pont Bineau)1908 Île-de-FranceNeuilly-sur-Seine (Pont Bineau)1909 Île-de-FranceNeuilly-sur-Seine (Pont de la Jatte)1910 Île-de-FranceNeuilly-sur-Seine (Pont de la Jatte)1911 Île-de-FranceNeuilly-sur-Seine (Pont de la Jatte)1912 Île-de-FranceParis (Luna Park Porte Maillot)1913 Île-de-FranceBoulogne-Billancourt 1914 Île-de-FranceSaint-Cloud 19151916191719181919 Île-de-FranceParis (Parc des Princes)1920 Île-de-FranceArgenteuil1921 Île-de-FranceArgenteuil1922 Île-de-FranceParis (Luna Park Porte Maillot)1923 Île-de-FranceParis (Luna Park Porte Maillot)1924 Île-de-FranceParis (Luna Park Porte Maillot)1925 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1926 Rhône-AlpesÉvian-les-Bains1927 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1928 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1929 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1930 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1931 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1932 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1933 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1934 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1935 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1936 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1937 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1938 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet1939 Île-de-FranceLe Vésinet19401941194219431944194519461947 Île-de-FranceParis1948 Île-de-FranceParis1949 Île-de-FranceParis1950 Île-de-FranceParis1951 LorraineMetz1952 BrittanyBrest1953 AlsaceStrasbourg1954 North HollandAmsterdam1955 Upper NormandyLe Havre1956 Champagne-ArdenneReims1957 Pays de la LoireNantes1958 Brussels-Capital RegionBrussels1959 AlsaceMulhouse1960 Nord-Pas-de-CalaisLille1961 Upper NormandyRouen1962 LorraineNancy1963 Île-de-FranceParis1964 BrittanyRennes1965 North Rhine-WestphaliaCologne1966 LorraineNancy1967 Pays de la LoireAngers1968 LorraineVittel1969 Nord-Pas-de-CalaisRoubaix1970 LimousinLimoges1971 AlsaceMulhouse1972 Pays de la LoireAngers1973 South HollandScheveningen1974 BrittanyBrest1975 WalloniaCharleroi1976 Pays de la LoireSaint-Jean-de-Monts1977 Midi-PyrénéesFleurance1978 South HollandLeiden1979 Midi-PyrénéesFleurance1980 HesseFrankfurt1981 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurNice1982 Basel-StadtBasel1983 Île-de-FranceFontenay-sous-Bois1984 Île-de-FranceMontreuil1985 BrittanyPlumelec1986 Île-de-FranceBoulogne-Billancourt 1987 West BerlinWest Berlin1988 Pays de la LoirePontchâteau1989Luxembourg DistrictLuxembourg City1990 Poitou-CharentesFuturoscope1991 Rhône-AlpesLyon1992 Basque CountrySan Sebastián1993 Pays de la LoireLe Puy du Fou1994 Nord-Pas-de-CalaisLille1995 BrittanySaint-Brieuc1996 North Brabant's-Hertogenbosch1997 Upper NormandyRouen1998 LeinsterDublin1999 Pays de la LoireLe Puy du Fou2000 Poitou-CharentesFuturoscope2001 Nord-Pas-de-CalaisDunkirk2002Luxembourg DistrictLuxembourg City2003 Île-de-FranceParis2004 WalloniaLiège2005 Pays de la LoireChallans2006 AlsaceStrasbourg2007Greater LondonLondon2008 BrittanyBrest2009 MonacoMonaco2010 South HollandRotterdam2011 Pays de la LoirePassage du Gois2012 WalloniaLiège2013 CorsicaPorto-Vecchio2014 YorkshireLeeds2015 UtrechtUtrecht2016 NormandyMont Saint-Michel2017 North Rhine-WestphaliaDüsseldorf2018 Pays de la LoireNoirmoutier-en-l'Île2019 Brussels-Capital RegionBrussels2020 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurNice2021 BrittanyBrest2022 Capital Region of DenmarkCopenhagen2023 Basque CountryBilbao2024 TuscanyFlorence2025 Hauts-de-FranceLille2026 CataloniaBarcelona2027LothianEdinburgh2028 Grand EstReims
Tour de France Femmes YearCountryRegionGrand Départ host2022 Île-de-FranceParis2023 Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesClermont-Ferrand2024 South HollandRotterdam2025 BrittanyVannes2026 Vaud Lausanne 2027 YorkshireLeeds
Countries outside France that have hosted the Grands Départ +Countries outside France that have hosted the men's Grands DépartNo.CountryCities6s-Hertogenbosch, Amsterdam, Leiden, Rotterdam, Scheveningen, Utrecht5Brussels (2), Liège (2), Charleroi4inc. Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, West Berlin3 Barcelona, Bilbao, San Sebastian2 Luxembourg City (2)2 Leeds, London, Edinburgh (future)1 Copenhagen1 Dublin1 Florence 1 Monte Carlo1 Basel +Countries outside France that have hosted the women's Grands DépartNo.CountryCities1Rotterdam1 Lausanne0 Leeds (future)
Notes and references
Bibliography
See also List of Tour de France secondary classification winners Yellow jersey statistics List of Grand Tour general classification winners