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The route of the sixth edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, revealed at the Palais des Congrès de Paris by its director, Marion Rousse, will be a long slog from north to south. The peloton will ride from the English city of Leeds all the way to Auvergne and the iconic Puy de Dôme, where the queen of the 2027 edition will be crowned.
- From 30 July to 7 August, the battle for the Yellow Jersey will unfold across a wide range of terrains sprinkled with plenty of opportunities to shake up the race. Things will get serious as early as the first two stages, in which the short but nasty climbs dotting the Yorkshire landscape will begin to sort out the pretenders from the contenders. London will then provide a dramatic backdrop for the first team time trial in the short history of the event. Back in France, there will be opportunities for breakaway riders, puncheurs and sprinters. Then, over the final three stages, the slopes of the Massif Central will provide the terrain for the decisive showdown.
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Alongside the Tour, two challenges await amateur cyclists in summer 2027: L’Étape du Tour de France on 11 July; and L’Étape du Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift on 8 August, taking riders on a 138 km journey through the volcanic range, with the Puy de Dôme as its centrepiece, where the professional women will have crossed the final finish line the previous day.
As it continues to refine its successful formula, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift often returns to some of those mountains that become synonymous with the sport and gone down in Tour de France and cycling history. From La Super Planche des Belles Filles in 2022 to Mont Ventoux last summer, each of these high-altitude battles has yielded epic showdowns, thrilling attacks and breathtaking panoramas.
The Grand Départ in England (the third one beyond French borders, after the Netherlands in 2024 and Switzerland in 2026) will be a real crowd-pleaser, with gripping duels from day one. Demi Vollering, eyeing a historic three-peat, will have to keep a motley crew of challengers at bay until the last three stages, where the pendulum will swing in her favour.
Yorkshire is one of those places where the old saying "Fortune favours the bold" rings truer than anywhere else. Attackers will have a lot to work with on the bumpy road between Leeds and Manchester (stage 1) and the even bumpier one between Manchester and Sheffield (stage 2). After that, it will take a well-oiled machine to zip past the most glamorous landmarks in London and win the stage 3 team time trial.
Between the sprinters and the breakaway specialists, it is hard to predict who will prevail in the first few stages held on French soil… Both stage 4 to Calais and stage 5 to Magnanville save the worst for last. A bunch sprint seems a bit more likely in Bourges (stage 6), but victory at La Loge des Gardes (stage 7) is beyond the reach of all but the toughest climbers. The next day, six climbs will thin out the peloton before it rolls into Clermont-Ferrand (stage 8), which will be hosting the race for the third time, after the 2023 Grand Départ and a stopover in 2025. The queen of the 2027 edition will only emerge from the shadows inside the final kilometre of the ninth and final stage, at the top of the Puy de Dôme.
L’Étape du Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift: in the shadow of the Puy de Dôme
- The L’Étape du Tour de France format was extended to the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift in 2025, when several thousand amateur riders took on the Col de la Madeleine just hours before Pauline Ferrand-Prévot delivered a commanding winning performance on the same slopes.
- In 2027, the third edition of L’Étape du Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift will take place on 8 August in the Puy-de-Dôme department, beneath the gaze of the ancient volcano where the champions will have fought their final battle the previous day.
- A variation on the route of stage 8 raced by the professionals, the course starts at the Panoramique des Dômes and loops through the region before finishing at the Charade circuit, covering 138 kilometres with 2,460 metres of elevation gain. As they explore the volcanic range, particularly the Sancy massif, riders will tackle the Côte de Guéry and the climb to the resort of Super Besse.
CLASSIFICATION JERSEYS: DESIGNED BY CASTELLI
In addition to the routes of the men's and women's 2027 Tour, the presentation ceremony also unveiled the new classification jerseys. The Italian brand Castelli is returning to the Grande Boucle after putting Greg LeMond and Miguel Indurain in yellow, Sean Kelly in green and Claudio Chiappucci in polka dots between 1989 and 1994.
Its famous scorpion logo, which goes all the way back to 1974, will be seen again on the jerseys of the Tour, but the six-year partnership deal spans a total of 27 cycling and cyclosportive events. In addition to stage races such as La Vuelta, Paris–Nice and the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, technical apparel collections will be designed for Paris–Roubaix Hauts-de-France and Liège–Bastogne–Liège, not to mention L'Étape du Tour de France and L'Étape du Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
