One of the world’s biggest sporting events is set to come to the Welsh capital, with the 2027 Tour de France hitting Wales’ streets. The route hasn’t been announced yet, but locals are already excited.
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00:00The Tour de France is cycling's biggest event and it's one of the biggest sporting showcases
00:06on the planet. The mix of sport and intrigue and incredible sprawling hills and countryside
00:11make it an incredibly popular event for people in and out of the cycling world. Millions
00:15of people tune in every year to see the race on TV and line the streets of France just
00:20to take it all in. Every other year or so, the first stage, the Grand Depart, takes place
00:25somewhere outside France. Countries like Spain, Belgium, Germany and even Denmark,
00:30thousands of miles from France, have hosted the opening event in the past. Back in 2014,
00:34it took place in England, with cities like Sheffield and Leeds playing a host of the
00:38opening stages. And now, 13 years later, it's set to return to the UK, and of course, Cardiff
00:44is going to be one of the hosts. The Tour is set to start in Edinburgh and race through
00:47England before the final leg of the Openers finishing here in Cardiff. There is no official
00:52route quite yet, so we're not quite sure where the finishing line would be. Maybe Cardiff
00:56Castle behind me? Possibly the bay? It's impossible to tell now, but it's exciting to speculate.
01:02Places like the Valleys with its beautiful countryside will surely hope to play a big
01:05role too, and bringing such a mammoth event to the area would be incredible for the local
01:09economy and hopefully get some kids into cycling. The news has only just dropped and people
01:15around the city are already excited. Yeah, definitely. Obviously, it's never happened
01:20in Wales before, so it's actually good that it's coming to Wales. It brings more recognition
01:25to Wales, because Wales is a great country. And it will definitely excite a lot of people,
01:33like me myself. I'm excited myself, because it's to do with fitness and stuff. So, yeah,
01:39it'll be a good watch. It's really good, really exciting. It'll be good for the city and good
01:42for tourism and stuff as well. Yeah, it's good for a sport like Tour de France. It's
01:49pretty big. It'll bring France over to Wales, hopefully, and bring people over there, tourists
01:55out of Wales. One of the major benefits of the tour coming here to Wales is how much
01:59it will encourage local young people to take up the sport, something the locals think will
02:04be a real benefit. Yeah, definitely. Even me hearing about this now, today, that's inspired
02:09me to have a look if cycling is something I could do. So, even just the thought of it
02:16coming to Wales, Cardiff, is inspiring. And definitely, young children will get inspired
02:23by it, just because I'm inspired by it. So, it's a great thing all round. It brings recognition
02:29to the city, the country, and obviously it's to do with fitness, so it's promoting something
02:35good. Yeah, that'd be really good, yeah. Yes, good. Cycling's a good sport, but not many
02:40people do it. They sort of cycle publicly, like going from work to home, but they won't
02:45do it sporting-wise. So, it's sort of good bringing it over here. It might help out up
02:51towards Cathay, there's a cycling track, but not many people might go there, so it might
02:55introduce more people to go and do that. So, yeah, it's pretty good.