The Tour de France has just announced that the 2028 men's race will start in Reims on 24 June, heading out into the champagne vineyards and followed by four stages in the Grand Est region of France. The start date is a little earlier than normal, as the Tour has been rescheduled to avoid clashing with the Los Angeles Olympic Games. According to Tour director Christian Prudhomme: The region has all the key assets needed to host the event, from demanding roads and jaw dropping landscapes to an inspirational heritage. The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift visted Reims in 2022. Jeff Pachoud / Getty Images With the 2026 Tour starting in Barcelona in Spain and the 2027 edition of the men's and women's races in the UK, it was time for a Grand Dpart from French soil, not least because the UCI mandates how many times in a row a race can start outside its home country and the Tour has already racked up 11 foreign starts since 2010. Prudhomme has announced the start and end towns for the first three stages, with the first stage heading out from in front of Reims cathedral and finishing in Charleville-Mzires. That will be followed by a stage starting in pernay, home to many champagne houses. It will finish in Metz in the Moselle department, which was part of the German Empire the first time the Tour visited in 1907, its first excursion outside France. Finally, theres a stage from Thionville to Verdun, a flashpoint in the First World War. Although the route hasnt been announced, it has the potential to take in the hilly Parc Naturel Rgional de Lorraine. The start location for the 2028 Tour de France Femmes is yet to be disclosed.