Tour de France moves 2021 Grand Départ from Copenhagen to Brittany

Tour de France operator ASO has announced the town of Brest, Brittany as the official starting point for next year’s race, replacing the Danish capital of Copenhagen

All four of the opening stages will take place in the region between June 26–29, with the full route to be finalised on October 29 this year. Brittany had previously been in discussions with ASO to host the 2022 edition, though no plans had been finalised. It was also linked with bids for 2024 and 2025.

ASO announced last week that that it was moving Copenhagen’s planned Grand Départ into 2022 as it continues to navigate the complex sporting calendar for 2021, caused by the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

A move was made necessary after the International Cycling Union (UCI) last week revealed the calendars for the 2021 WorldTour and Women’s WorldTour seasons, with the Tour de France to start a week earlier than originally planned to avoid a clash with the rescheduled summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Tour de France will now finish in Paris on July 18, just six days before the men’s road race gets underway in Japan.

Several other factors also came into play, such as Denmark’s hosting of several fixtures in next year’s rescheduled Uefa Euro 2020 football tournament.

“The congested 2021 summer sporting calendar has forced the Tour’s first visit to Denmark to be postponed until 2022,” said ASO in a statement. “Instead of heading north, the 108th edition will travel west and its first stage will be held in Brest, which is only second to Paris in terms of hosting the Grand Départ.”