Tour de France Femmes 2027 route announcement: Peloton tackles Leeds and Sheffield's famous backdrops and Peak District's most daunting climbs

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift is coming to the White Rose county in 2027, for an opening stage that runs from Leeds to Manchester on Friday, July 30, and a gruelling second day from Manchester to Sheffield on Saturday, July 31.

The return of the great free-to-watch sporting spectacle comes 13 years after five million people lined the roadside for a men’s Tour de France that captivated a county and started the cycling boom.

Now it’s the turn of the best female riders on the planet to sample our wholehearted embrace, Yorkshire charm, punchy climbs and gritty terrain.

As more about the routes was revealed on Monday, it was refreshing to see familiar climbs and backdrops that made the 2014 Grand Depart so special revisited - The Headrow, Côte d’Oughtibridge and the unrelenting Côte de Jenkin Road which forced Chris Froome and Alberto Contador out of the saddle in pursuit of the yellow jersey.

On top of that the women’s peloton will scale new heights up Côte de Kirkheaton on the road to Huddersfield and out across the Pennines to Manchester, and then coming back into the Peak District on day two with a climb up Winnats Pass overlooking Castleton.

The riders then head to London on the Sunday for a team time-trial around the capital, taking in the city’s famous landmarks such as Big Ben, the Tower of London and LondonEye to cap what organisers hope will be the highest attended women’s sporting event in Britain.

From a Yorkshire perspective, the cycling extravaganza begins on the Headrow - just as it did 13 years earlier - before heading off through Headingley and the west of the city, crossing into Kirklees, through Heckmondwike and Mirfield.

After ascending the 1.7km long, 7.5 per cent gradient of the Côte de Kirkheaton into Huddersfield, the peloton powers on up the Cote de Meltham and into the Peak District National Park. The 85.7km stage finishes on Deansgate after passing Manchester Cathedral.

Stage two is a lot more demanding, 154.4km in length and encompassing 2,700m of climbing as the race departs Manchester and beats a path through the Peak District.

The 12.4 per cent gradient of Winnats Pass might just bring the cyclists to a grinding halt, but for fans and families alike, that natural amphitheatre will be one of the many picturesque places to see this free-to-watch spectacle unravel.

If they’re still standing, the riders must then tackle climbs in Oughtibridge and up Jenkin Road, a 10.8 per cent gradient of equal menace.

The deciding sprint passes Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park - a beacon of health and wellbeing - and finishes along Attercliffe Common under the imposing facade of the Forgemasters factory, running in the opposite direction to what the men tackled in 2014, bringing a hint of nostalgia to another celebration of sport in Yorkshire.

One woman hoping to feature in the race is homegrown Yorkshire rider Cat Ferguson, a rising star of the British women’s peloton.

The Skipton rider, who turns 20 next week, is already a double junior world champion on the road, won a stage of the Tour of Britain last year and is taking her first steps on the World Tour with Spanish team Movistar.

Ferguson said: “The race starting in Yorkshire is incredible. I remember in 2014 when the Tour came to Yorkshire standing on the roadside with my parents, just the amount of people who came out to watch, and I remember it now every time I go back home and train on those roads.

“The support the British people show is like nothing else, it’s such an honour that it’s starting in Yorkshire and is going to London for a historic team time-trial.”

On the two stages that encompass her home county, Ferguson added: “I know the first two stages, they’re not quite my home roads, but I know they’re going to be super brutal.

“I’m excited by stage two in particular, lots of ups and downs, lots of corners, it’s going to be an exciting race and one that will change the Tour because the GC riders can lose a lot if they’re not positioned well.”

Ferguson will be 21 by the time the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift wheels into her home county, no guarantee at such an age that she will be selected to ride for a powerhouse team like Movistar.

But it will be a huge incentive for her to target over the next year and a bit.

“There’s no question in my mind that I won’t be doing everything in my power to be on that startline and to give my absolute best,” said Ferguson.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get another opportunity in my career where the Tour de France Femmes is on my own home roads with local voices and accents cheering me on.

“If I’m lucky enough to be there next year then it will be my absolute goal.”