The Tour de France is coming to the UK in 2027

Next year's men's and women's Tour de France will both begin in Britain, and organisers have now revealed the opening routes for both races.

The first stage of the men's race will take place between Edinburgh and Carlisle on 2 July.

While the women's Tour will get underway four weeks later in Leeds, before heading to Manchester.

Last time the race was in the UK, around five million people came out to watch, and this time organisers are expecting even more visitors to what they're calling "the largest free sporting spectacle in UK history".

2027 will be the first time that both races will start in the same country, outside of France.

The Tour de France is the world's biggest annual sporting event.

Normally held in July, the event sees nearly 200 cyclists race over 2,000 miles in just 23 days - before finishing on the streets of Paris.

While most of the race takes part in the towns, cities, countryside and mountains of France it often starts in a different country - this is known as the Grand Depart.

Organisers say the 2027 men's event will start in Edinburgh with the first three stages taking place in Scotland, England and Wales.

The route will visit the likes of Edinburgh Castle, the Lake District and the Brecon Beacons.

The men's opening stage will begin on 2 July, working its way from Scotland's capital Edinburgh to Carlisle in north-west England.

The peloton will then head from Keswick to Liverpool for the second stage, followed by a third stage in Wales from Welshpool to Cardiff.

It'll be the fifth time that the UK has partly staged the men's event - it previously came to the UK in 1974, 1994, 2007 and 2014.

While the UK has hosted the men's event a number of times before, it'll be the first time that women's event - also called the Tour de France Femmes - will start here.

It will get underway on 30 July, with the peloton travelling from Leeds to Manchester.

The second stage will head through the Peak District to Sheffield, before the third and final stage in London on 1 August.