The women’s Tour de France is to come through Huddersfield in 2027.

Both the men’s and women’s races will be starting in the UK in July next year and, while the men’s route starts in Edinburgh and goes down the west side of the country through Liverpool and Wales, the women’s race starts in Leeds and finishes in London.

The men’s race will be right at the start of July and the women’s race, called the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, begins in West Yorkshire on Friday, July 30, and comes through Huddersfield on its way to Manchester.

The route through Kirklees will enter at Birkenshaw before passing through Birstall, Heckmondwike, Mirfield, Kirkheaton and Waterloo to reach Huddersfield.

The route then crosses Huddersfield ring road and out down Meltham Road through Netherton and into Meltham.

From there it drops south to cross the Pennines and into the north of the Peak District National Park past Dovestone reservoir to Uppermill and on to Manchester.

The second stage on Saturday, July 31, is from Manchester to Sheffield which will give Huddersfield people a second chance to see the racers in action quite locally with the third day a time trial in London.

The two races will make history as this is the first time both the men’s and women’s Grand Départs have taken place in the same country outside France.

Kirklees Council chief executive Steve Mawson said: “This is about much more than a single day of racing – it’s a powerful opportunity to inspire the next generation of women and girls to get involved in cycling and sport, to celebrate elite female athletes and to showcase our communities and our landscapes on a global stage.

“We know the lasting impact an event like this can have. When the Tour came through in 2014 it delivered a £4 million boost to our local economy and brought 250,000 people onto our streets to enjoy and celebrate this world famous event and I can’t wait to see our streets come alive once again as we welcome the world back to Kirklees.”

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.