The 2028 Tour de France will begin in Reims, France, with the first French Grand Départ since 2025, it was announced on Monday afternoon. It will start two weeks earlier than usual, on Saturday 24 June, due to the LA Olympics which starts on 14 July, with the first road event on 19 July.
Just the six host towns, all in the Grand Est region of France, have been revealed. The race will begin in Reims, before heading to Charleville Méziers, Épernay, Verdun, Metz and Thionville. There was no further information on the routes the stages will take. This information is unlikely to come out before early next year.
This year's Tour will begin in Barcelona, Spain, before heading back to the UK for a Grand Depart in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2026. As a result, the start in Reims will feel like something of a homecoming for the race.
Reims has hosted the Grand Départ before, in 1956, and has featured in the men's Tour route 20 times. The last time it was used was 2019, when Elia Viviani triumphed in Nancy, after stage four began in Reims, while in 2014 Andre Greipel won in the city itself.
Metz was the first foreign city the Tour visited, in 1906, as it was then part of Germany. More recently, Julian Alaphilippe won stage three in Épernay in 2019 to begin his journey in the yellow jersey.
Due to the Olympics, the Tour will also finish relatively early, on Sunday July 16 2028, roughly two weeks sooner than usual.
The press release reads: "The city of Clovis and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will fire the starting shot for four days of racing in the Grand Est, where the peloton will discover the wonderful heritage of the region and tackle the sporting challenges of the Marne, Ardennes, Meuse and Moselle departments."
Unlike the 2027 British Grand Départ, which for the first time in history hosts both the men's and women's races, there was no mention of the Tour de France Femmes, today. This year the TdFF starts in Lausanne, Switzerland - home of the International Olympic Committee - on 1st August while in 2027 it will start in Leeds before travelling south to London and then crossing back over the channel.
