The Tour de France routes for 2027 are out and here is a stage-by-stage look at the mens course. It runs between Friday 2 July and Sunday 25 July 2027.Beginning on a Friday in order to fit the British grand dpart into a long weekend Stage 1 is a road race from Edinburgh to Carlisle. Its the most northerly start of the Tour ever, anecdotal perhaps but means talk of heatwaves and forest fires will be unlikely. Theres one marked climb to award the mountains jersey at Melrose which suggests a tame stage but wait for the weather forecast as theres plenty of exposed moorland and the first days of the Tour are always high stress.Stage 2 features more moorland and if the stats on the climbs look tame, zoom in. The Trough of Bowland might be 2km at 5% but it has plenty of 10-14% slopes towards the top to blunt the legs of some heavyset sprinters and the climbs mid-stage should be spectator hotspots, a chance for locals to see riders go past slower and for TV viewers to sample the crowd size compared to the festivities of Yorkshire in 2014. Its a long stage and the weather could make things harder still giving this the feel of a classic more than regular sprint stage.Stage 3 is another hard day at 223km again and will have plenty of team managers fretting because a mistake or mishap here could sink a GC contenders season. But its nothing savage, theres 3,000 metres of vertical gain on the way to Cardiff, too much for most sprinters but the climbs are largely on wide roads, its the repetition that will shrink things down and hopefully open up space for attacks.Stage 4 and after a transfer by ferry to Cherbourg, a circuit race around Normandy peppered with sharp climbs that are often exposed and along the coast concluding with the uphill finish in 2016 where Peter Sagan, Alejandro Valverde and Julian Alaphilippe contested the win. In todays terms we could see Tadej Pogaar and Mathieu van der Poel duking it out.Stage 5 and a start in Pontorson, population around 4,000 a first for them to host the Tour because another nearby candidate said non to ASO over the costs but the strain on French finances is a story for another day. Live TV will show the Mont-Saint-Michel but this day is probably all about the second day of consecutive uphill finishes, this time in Plumelec, twice up the Cadoudal climb used in a variety of races before like the GP Morbihan, the 2016 Euro champs and both the mens and womens Tours too.Stage 6 is a flat sprint stage to Angers which as weve seen from Paris-Nice finishes is a calm place despite the name and if you dont like wordplay then skip this day given it starts in Vannes too. The brief sporting aspect is that final metres drag up to the line, reaching 5%.Stage 7 is the first time trial in the Loire valley to Chambord, which for trivia is the largest of the chteaux in the Loire and if you read it here first, chance are youll hear it 36 more times in July . Its 38km long which makes it the longest TT in a Tour since 2022s 40km race to Rocamadour. Crucially its flat, talk on the day will also be about who has the biggest chainring as its accessible to the pure time trial specialists and GC contenders alike. Assuming no mishaps on the preceding stages and Remco Evenepoel can dream of the maillot jaune many times between now and July.Stage 8 and the longest stage of the Tour, just. Theres dj vu with a similar day to Le Creusot as Stage 7 in 2021 won by Matej Mohori. Its similar but not identical, but like then it features the Croix de la Libration and then the tricky Signal dUchon which you might remember from Paris-Nice back in March too with biblical weather and bib longs. This should again be one the breakaway world championships stages with waves of riders trying to land an elusive win.Stage 9 goes into the Jura mountains where the three mid-mountain passes along the way are tiring but have no surprises and suit teams trying to set tempo rather than providing ambush terrain. Then its the Grand Colombier, tackled from Culoz via the lacets. Race director Christian Prudhomme says he wants the race to unfold slowly but this is big climb, a 40 minute effort, that should shape the overall classification at the risk of setting it, and all by the end of the first week. A rest day in the Alps awaits.With the route leaking long before, Stage 10 from Annecy to Sallanches sounded predictable but who would have guessed this course? The Salve is back after last summer but its a gentler route along the mountain rather than up a cliff face. Instead the dj vu comes from the Brison climb which is the lower half of the Plateau de Solaison which also featured on the same day. Next, Domancy is a predictable as a nod to the upcoming World Championships here. But the climb to Le Bettex is via a small back-road and similarly many standing will be standing on the pedals to get to up to the Plateau dAssy before another time up the steep Domancy climb and a fast run to Sallanches. It could be a hard one to control but equally big teams will be content to see a breakaway go clear so their leaders can save something for the following day.Stage 11 is a big day in the Alps only 150km but 4,750m of vertical gain and this years visit to the Alps only briefly spends time above 1,500m above sea level. Its all via climbs that are steeper than normal for the Alps, achieved via back-road climbs like the Col du Pr and if the finish is in the ski resort of Les Saisies, its via the Bisanne route which the hardest way up with only a short transition across to the finish line so well count it as a summit finish. Its on 14 July, aka Bastille day but a Saturday so no extended party. And thats it for the Alps.Stage 12 is a transition stage out of the Alps and to the Rhone valley. Its hilly and should be a sprint finish in Valence but could still be worth a go for the breakaway.Stage 13 is even flatter and so even more likely to finish in a sprint in Montpellier but the obligatory mention of the ability of the Mistral winds ability to make mischief.Stage 14 leaves Montpellier for Mende via plenty of rough roads and 4,300m of vertical gain. A mountain stage? Almost. The final Laurent Jalabert climb to the aerodrome is always selective so while Michael Matthews got a masterpiece win from the breakaway on this finish in 2022 we had GC action behind. This time the approach from the south instead of the north is significantly harder, and more scenic. If you wanted to ride a stage for the sake of it, this is a good choice for the scenery, empty roads and it borrows roads described in Tim Krabbs The Rider.Stage 15 might be flat enough for a sprint but with a week left in the race many teams will be desperate for a stage win and will try to get in the breakaway. You can see some of the climbs on the profile but there are more than suggested in the final hour.Stage 16 is a second individual time trial that starts in Toulouse and heads south before turning back and following the Garonne river back into the city via the walll-like Pech David climb used two years ago.If the weather is good then the Pyrenees will be visible on the horizon for hours asStage 17 tracks west from Muret to Pau for a likely sprint finish.Stage 18 is the Queen Stage of the Tour with 5,400m of vertical gain and via a parade of royalty climbs starting with the Soulor and then the Tourmalet where the race climbs beyond 2,000 metres for the first time before the Hourquette dAncizan and then the new climb of the Col du Portet, which as a reminder is the Pla dAdet climb before turning onto a ski lift access path that was tarmacked in time for the 2018 Tour and is now the highest official paved pass in the French Pyrenees. Nairo Quintana won here in 2018 (and Chris Froome was yanked off his bike by a gendarme) while Tadej Pogaar won in 2022 after nearly 50 minutes of climb time.Stage 19 is the hipster Pyrenean stage, starting in Hasparren which was once famous for making shoes, its via the Burdincurutcheta which as well as being a tongue-twister is a lung-buster with plenty of 10-12% slopes. The Soudet is a backroad route to the La Pierre-Saint-Martin ski station before the Marie Blanque which is climbed, of course, via its steeper side before the descent to Laruns where Tadej Pogaar won his first Tour de France stage.Stage 20 is a flat stage to take the riders to Libourne for a probable sprint finish and handily it has its own TGV station to take the race to Paris.Stage 21 and where Champs-Elyses and Rue Lepic now go together like steak-frtes or jambon-beurre and hopefully we get another Paris match thriller.The Tour in NumbersFlatter in feel with only three summit finishes this time when 2026 had four in the Alps alone. There are seven likely sprint finishes when last time there were five, and more time trials too. The 2027 Tour de France route feels like a calmer edition where the imported mantra of citius, altius, fortius is reset. But what do the numbers say?The most solo kilometres since 2012 and as the chart shows, above average but not exceptional. Where the difference comes is the manner, 2027s vintage is with the brief exception of Pech David all flat, these are TT stages that will appeal as much to Filippo Ganna and Josh Tarling as to Tadej Pogaar and Paul Seixas while Remco Evenepoel will be licking his lips at the possibility of stage wins and time gains.This chart says its not actually a flatter Tour at all, 53,450 metres of vertical gain is well above average for the Christian Prudhomme era. But again its the details within the stages that count, plenty of climbing in 2027 but far fewer set-piece mountain stages with summit finishes.The VerdictA vanilla route even if the Tour is rarely plain given the quality of riders and intensity of racing. The 2027 edition doesnt have any wow factors, no cobbles nor gravel and little novelty either, no new mountains. Visiting the Basque Pyrenees is enticing because its rare rather than new, likewise tackling Mont Aigoual. Instead its defined by fewer summit finishes and more time trial kilometres. Will this make the race closer? To wonder which rider it suits the feels like a dead end given Tadej Pogaars record of five wins but if the Tour presentation gives us embers to keep burning during the dark winter nights, one of the brightest flames must be for Remco Evenepoel who now has three weeks in July with a route that flickers with a yellow flame.The post 2027 Tour de France Route first appeared on The Inner Ring.