Six minutes in 2026, four minutes in 2025, six minutes in 2024. The winning margins of Tadej Pogačar at the Tour de France in the past three years do not suggest a close battle, something that the race's organisers long for, to keep an audience gripped through three weeks of racing.
A close battle is not something that happened in this year's race, where UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Slovenian all but sealed the yellow jersey on just stage six, with a dominant performance over the Col du Tourmalet. The route announcement for 2026 was all about "crescendo", with the organisers aiming for a slow build to the Alps at the end of the race; they had the crescendo thrown in their face with a forte performance in the first week.
For 2027, then, it was back to the drawing board. Out are any early forays to the mountains, with the first summit finish on stage nine, and while few would bet against Pogačar on a punchy stage five, for example, he will not be able to have minutes of advantage by the Alps, and potentially not until the Pyrenees, if his rivals play ball. There are only three summit finishes in 21 days, down from five in 2026, amid six days in the mountains. There was little talk of 'the hardest Tour ever'.
In comes two long time trials, on stages seven and 17, which are not-so-subtly designed to tilt the balance of power away from Pogačar, and towards Remco Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, time trial world champion. It also might help great French hope Paul Seixas, third at the World Championships this year. At 71km, t's the most time trialling since 2012 and Bradley Wiggins's triumph. It doesn't take a genius to read that ASO and route supremo Thierry Gouvenou hope to mix things up a bit, or at least not make it so much of a procession.
Speaking to L'Équipe, Tour director Christian Prudhomme did not hide the ambition to throw in a different challenge with the long TTs: "We can tell ourselves that there might be a chance of suspense and a great battle right to the end. Knowing, of course, that Pogačar has been so dominant in recent years, that he has such talent that, whatever the course, he somehow manages to manipulate it."
Manipulate it he will. Pogačar, should he return to the level he was at before crashing out of the Vuelta a España, is still one of the better time triallists in the peloton, and will be able to bend this course to his will. He is still the likely winner, Prudhomme knows this, but the hope is things are just a little bit more competitive.
The first week does not look too dissimilar from 2025, when the race started in Lille, and a series of Classics-style stages followed before the Pyrenees were reached in the second week. Pogačar won two of them, in Rouen and on the Mûr-de-Bretagne. Plumelec on stage five looks ripe for his picking once again, and the 28-year-old does not need high mountains to do his thing.
There might also not be endless mountains, but this is a route full of pitfalls, whether that be tricky climbs, hair-raising descents or the weather, with the win potentially playing a huge role on several stages. Stage 14 in the Massif Central is the kind of day which could blow the race apart, as could stage eight. The TTs, the Alps and Pyrenees will decide the race, but there is more than enough to keep everyone interested over the three weeks.
The aim, though, is for exciting racing, which was certainly true of 2025's opening week, and entertain the kids, with Prudhomme highlighting the TV audience among 15-24 year old's in that L'Équipe interview.
The idea is "having the favourites neck and neck right from the start, before tackling the officially mountainous sections". "The course is designed for spectacular riders," Prudhomme added.
The most spectacular rider remains Tadej Pogačar. There are opportunities for Evenepoel, for Seixas, and don't forget Jonas Vingegaard, but the route of a Grand Tour won't decide the winner. Still, I was excited by the route announcement, and am ready for next July's thrills across France, even if everything points towards a familiar face in yellow. See you in Edinburgh.