British 2026 Grand Départ bid abandoned

UK Sport confirms that there will be no funding for bringing 2026 Tour de France to the UK, but the door is open for 2027

- Jeremy Whittle 

Forget the dream of a British-based Grand Départ in 2026: focus instead on the Tour de France coming back in 2027. That was the message from UK Sport after it confirmed that the plan to bring the world’s biggest bike race back to the UK in two years’ time had been dropped.

Ten years after the euphoria of the 2014 Yorkshire Grand Départ, and in the hospitality suites of the 2012 Olympic Stadium – now the home of West Ham United – UK Sport’s deputy CEO Simon Morton and colleague Esther Britten, head of major events, set out future plans for bringing the Tour and other global events to the UK.

“We are not actively pursuing hosting [the Tour] in 2026,” Morton said, before adding the caveat, however, that “things can change fast in this world” suggesting that a location for the start of the 2026 race has yet to be confirmed.

Speculation surrounding the bid to stage a 2026 Grand Départ, focused initially at least on Scotland, had been fuelled by the presence of Tour director Christian Prudhomme at last summer’s UCI World Championships in Glasgow.