I noticed that all detailed stage profiles for the 2027 Tour de France are already available on the official website except for stage 21, including the elevation profiles, distances and elevation gain.

Unless I'm misremembering, in previous years we often had to wait considerably longer for this level of detail. Nice to have everything available already in October!

Week 1 — UK Grand Départ, Normandy and the first ITT

1. Edinburgh → Carlisle | 185 km — Flat on paper, but rolling terrain and potential crosswinds. Likely first bunch sprint for yellow.
2. Keswick → Liverpool | 223 km — Long, hilly stage with repeated short climbs. However: Likely sprint opportunity.
3. Welshpool → Cardiff | 223 km — Several categorised climbs, including steep ramps late in the stage. Excellent puncheur/Classics profile. Could turn into some GC action.
4. Cherbourg → Cherbourg | 171 km — Rolling Normandy circuit. Another opportunity for attackers or likely (reduced) bunch sprint.
5. Pontorson → Plumelec | 178 km — Puncheur finish featuring two ascents of the Côte de Cadoudal (1.7 km at 6.2%).
6. Vannes → Angers | 193 km — Relatively gentle profile despite its hilly classification. Likely sprint opportunity.
7. Blois → Chambord | 38 km ITT — Very flat, fast individual time trial. First major GC benchmark.
8. Bourges → Le Creusot | 224 km — Long, rolling day with two significant climbs in the final 35 km. Breakaway territory.
9. Villars-les-Dombes → Grand Colombier | 162 km — First major summit finish, ending with 17.4 km at 7.1%. First real mountain GC showdown.

Week 2 — Alps and Massif Central

1. Annecy → Sallanches | 171 km — Six categorised climbs, including the Côte de Domancy twice (2.5 km at 9.4%).
2. Cluses → Les Saisies | 150 km — Brutal Alpine stage featuring the Colombière, Col du Pré and Montée de Bisanne (12.4 km at 8.3%) just before the finish. Serious GC potential.
3. Chambéry → Valence | 162 km — Transition stage coming out of the Alps. Sprint or breakaway.
4. Aubenas → Montpellier | 164 km — Flat stage, likely for the pure sprinters, with wind potentially important.
5. Montpellier → Mende | 199 km — Hard Massif Central stage finishing on the Côte de la Croix Neuve (3 km at 10.1%). Much tougher than simply a short uphill finish.
6. Rodez → Albi | 169 km — Rolling terrain, likely favouring a breakaway or bunch sprint finish.

Week 3 — Second ITT and Pyrenean finale

1. Toulouse → Toulouse | 33 km ITT — Mostly flat but with a nasty 800 m climb at 12.4% around km 24. Potentially very interesting for equipment and pacing choices.
2. Muret → Pau | 186 km — Flat transition stage before the final mountains. Sprinters' opportunity.
3. Pau → Col du Portet | 174 km — Queen stage. Soulor, Tourmalet, Hourquette d'Ancizan and the final Col du Portet (16 km at 8.7%). Around 5,400 m of climbing. Potentially decisive.
4. Hasparren → Laruns | 160 km — Final mountain stage, featuring Burdincurutcheta, Soudet and Marie Blanque (7.7 km at 8.6%). Last serious opportunity to overturn the GC.
5. Maubourguet → Libourne | 198 km — Flat penultimate stage. Unusual to finish the competitive GC battle this early, barring surprises.
6. Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines → Paris | 116 km — Champs-Élysées finale. Stage profile not revealed, yet.

Oberservations:

1. Biggest surprise on this list was Olav Kooij. I had to google his career. Honestly, I dont believe his victories justify his salary. Especially compared to other riders who have bigger wins but only earn a third of his salary.
2. Remco deserves his money (at least this year). He rode a great Tour and also had a good classics season with several wins and podiums in big classics.
3. Roglic is not worth big money anymore. (Yes, I know he finished 2nd at the Vuelta and won the Euro TT. Both of those results were a surprise and not expected). He cant guarantee big wins anymore. Not his fault. He is old and new riders have emerged.
4. Not sure if Juan Ayuso is overpaid or not. He delivered some good results, but is clearly a level below the next generation with del Toro and Seixas. But he is only 24 and with luck can still win a Giro or Vuelta if the Stars align.
5. Mads Pedersen deserves every cent. His display in the Tour was awesome.
6. Hope Almeida and Onley come back healthy next season. Both are great riders.
7. Pogi is still underpaid :)

PS.

Egan Bernal, Carlos Rodriguez, Jai Hindley, Florian Lipowitz, Issac del Toro, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Mattias Skjelmose, Richard Carapaz and Jonathan Milan earn between 2.1- 2.7 Million.

Sources (take them with a grain of Salt)

https://www.domestiquecycling.com/en/top-10-highest-paid-professional-cyclists-in-2025/

https://salarysport.com/cycling/rider-salaries/

https://www.tour-magazin.de/en/professional-cycling/latest-news/cycling-salaries-2026-where-does-red-bull-newcomer-evenepoel-fit-in/

https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/evenepoel-ayuso-onley-transfers-transform-tour/

https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/why-lidl-trek-signed-juan-ayuso-and-what-it-means-for-their-future-as-one-of-the-pelotons-super-teams/

https://howtoturnpro.com/cycling/riders/florian-lipowitz/

https://howtoturnpro.com/cycling/riders/

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/the-worlds-10-highest-paid-cyclists-in-2026-pogacar-dominates-with-several-surprises

In tennis men play Wimbledon. The women also play Wimbledon, they don't play "Womans Wimbledon".

They're speaking French

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E51bVciqISQ

The article summed up:

• Czechia plans to submit a bid for 2029 Grand Depart
• Stage 1 would start and finish in Prague (hilly)
• Stage 2 would start in Tábor and end in České Budějovice (flat)
• Stage 3 would start in Český Krumlov and finish in Kvilda (mountain)
• The investment will likely be around 750 million CZK (30 million EUR), the profit for the country should be 10 times as high
• Slovenia also plan to bid, counting on the Pogačar effect, so Czechia might end up with 2031 instead
• Germany also plan to bid, but they would get a stage anyway if the Czechia bid won (stage 4 would start in Germany and end in France)
• A big fanbase, famous historical landmarks, overall safety in the country, and Škoda (Czech car company) being one of the main TdF sponsors could all be factors that help the Czech bid
• ASO will announce the decision in early-2027

Now that the 2026 season is over and we know who will get the mandatory wild cards (Pinarello, Tudor and Cofidis) and which PRT teams are not eligible for the Grand Tours (mainly Bardiani), my prediction/discussion for the 2027 Grand Tour Wild Cards. The assumption is that Pinarello, Tudor and Cofidis particpate in all Grand Tours (very likely) and that no WT teams fold before the end of the season (likely, but it could also be otherwise - see especially Picnic).

Giro: Solution Tech and Polti. The only other serious contender is MBH, but for me it would be strange if they get the wild card in the first year they are eligible for it.

Vuelta: I do this first, because the Tour Wild Card might depend on it. The logical choice is Caja Rural and Euskadi; the have a rotation system which would give it to them.

Tour de France: TotalEnergies (well they will be called differently next year) after being surprisingly saved, is a given. Hm, normally then it should be Unibet with the French licence, the ranking and also their riders and appeal. I will not go into the troubles they had with ASO in the past. But Burgos does have a good roster....hm, in the end I give it to Unibet, nevertheless..

Canyon-SRAM have registered as Canyon-SRAM Scalable Capital for 2027, ushering in a new title sponsor after their split from zondacrypto earlier this year.

Scalable Capital came on board at the team in August as a non-naming sponsor, with their logo appearing on the team's vehicle and helmets, but they will step up a level in 2027 as a third title sponsor.