Prague throws its hat in the ring for 2029 Tour de France Grand Départ

The Tour de France could feature four foreign Grand Départs in a row in the coming years, with Prague the next city to throw their hat in the ring for the race start.

A delegation from the Czech capital met with race director Christian Prudhomme this week to present their bid for 2029 to ASO.

The next two Tours are set to start abroad, with Barcelona in Spain hosting the 2026 Grand Départ and Edinburgh in Scotland hosting the 2027 start.

The 2028 Grand Départ has yet to be awarded, though Luxembourg is a frontrunner, and Prudhomme has already met with a delegation from the country.

Carmaker Skoda, longtime sponsor of the Tour de France, is set to form part of the bid for the race. Prudhomme travelled to Prague earlier this week to meet with the Czech delegation.

"It's a very good candidacy," Prudhomme said, according to a Czech radio reporter. "Prague is a magnificent city, and Czechia knows how to organise major events. We are carefully examining this candidacy."

It remains to be seen where the Tour will head in 2028 and 2029, though Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, will be a rival for Prague in 2029. Several French regions have expressed their opposition to the idea of the Tour heading abroad for three years in a row, however.

To date, the men's Tour has started outside France on 26 occasions, with the Netherlands hosting a Grand Départ on six occasions and Belgium in second place with five.

The Tour has also had starts in Denmark, Ireland, England, Spain, Luxembourg, Germany and Switzerland over the years and there have occasionally been vague rumours of possible starts from as far afield as the United States. However, the Tour hasn't yet ventured east of Europe's former Iron Curtain - as it would do with a Grand Départ in Czechia.