Champagne start: Tour de France begins in Reims in 2028

After two years abroad, the Grand Départ of the Tour de France will return to France in 2028. As the organiser ASO announced, the 115th edition of the world's most important cycling race will begin on 24 June in the Champagne city of Reims. The first stages will also pass close to the German border through cities such as Verdun and Metz. This year, the Tour starts in Barcelona, and in 2027 the peloton will set off from Edinburgh.

Due to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the 2028 Tour will start a week earlier. The final stage to Paris will take place on 16 July. The Olympic individual time trial is scheduled for 19 July, while the medals in the road race will be awarded on 23 July.

A Leipzig initiative is bidding for the Grand Départ in 2029. According to current plans, the tour will begin in Berlin 40 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and then run through eastern Germany on three further stages. The calculated costs are 25 million euros.

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