The routes are in place for the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift to return to British roads in 2027, but the most immediate issue for many fans is not where the race will go, it is whether they will be able to watch it without paying.
Organisers of the 2027 UK Grands Départs say free-to-air television coverage is “important”, but remain in talks over how that can be delivered while the Tour’s UK rights are held exclusively by Warner Bros. Discovery.
“A work in progress”, as rights talks begin
Speaking at a press conference in Leeds, Paul Bush, the managing director of the UK Grand Départ, said there is a “commitment” to work with Tour director Christian Prudhomme and organiser ASO to explore a free-to-air solution for the six UK stages.
When questioned further by Cycling Weekly, Bush described negotiations as “a work in progress”, adding that contractual situations with the current rights holders need to be handled “carefully and sympathetically”.
British Cycling CEO Jon Dutton also framed the event as a national moment that should reach beyond the sport’s core audience, a point Bush echoed when he said it is “bigger than a sporting event” and deserves a wide platform.
The backdrop, a Tour behind a paywall in the UK
The urgency comes from where the Tour now sits in the UK broadcast landscape.
From 2026, the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes are broadcast exclusively by Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports in the UK, ending decades of free-to-air coverage. That deal runs through to 2030, with the cost of a TNT Sports subscription currently around £30.99 per month.
The shift has also been shaped by the closure of Eurosport as a standalone channel in the UK and Ireland from February 28th 2025, with its cycling coverage folded into TNT Sports. The net effect is that live Tour coverage is now bundled into a broader sports subscription, rather than a dedicated cycling offer.
Prudhomme’s earlier optimism, but no guarantee yet
Prudhomme has previously indicated he wants the UK stages to be free to air, saying at the launch of the British Grands Départs in March that he hoped, and believed, the stages would be live and free to air in 2027.
For now, that remains an aspiration rather than a confirmation. Organisers are balancing the public value of open access against the reality that current rights are already contracted.
The UK stages in 2027
While the broadcast picture develops, the sporting plan is already clear, six stages split across the men’s and women’s races.
Tour de France
- July 2nd: Edinburgh to Carlisle
- July 3rd: Keswick to Liverpool
- July 4th: Welshpool to Cardiff
Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
- July 30th: Leeds to Manchester
- July 31st: Manchester to Sheffield
- August 1st: London, route still to be confirmed
Bush said he hopes a conclusion on free-to-air coverage can be reached within the next six months, but until those negotiations are resolved, the UK’s biggest cycling showcase in years still has an unresolved question at its centre: who gets to see it, and on what terms.
