Aubisque, Tourmalet and Col du Portet could headline Tour de France 2027 queen stage

The full 2027 Tour de France route will be unveiled in Paris on October 12, but reports in the Pyrenees are already offering some clues about what to expect.

According to La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées, a return to the Col du Portet is currently the leading scenario for the Tour’s visit to the Hautes Pyrénées next summer.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme stopped short of revealing the precise route, but he did confirm to the newspaper that the department will once again feature on the Tour in 2027.

The Tour has been an almost permanent visitor to the Hautes Pyrénées during Prudhomme’s tenure, and he indicated that organisers are keen to establish greater continuity around some of the newer summit finishes in the region.

Prudhomme cited both the Peyragudes altiport and the Col du Portet as examples of climbs that need repeated exposure to build their place in Tour folklore.

The report also offers a first glimpse of what the key Pyrenean stage could look like.

La Nouvelle République des Pyrénées suggests Pau could host the start, with the Col d’Aubisque and Col du Tourmalet both potentially appearing before the race heads towards Saint Lary. Either the Col d’Aspin or Hourquette d’Ancizan could then provide another obstacle ahead of the final ascent to the Col du Portet.

Such a route would rank among the Tour’s hardest mountain stages and could be a strong contender for queen stage status.

The Aubisque and Tourmalet require little introduction. Both have been part of Tour history since the race first ventured into the high Pyrenees in 1910. The Tourmalet again played a key role in 2026, when Tadej Pogačar went over the top first before extending his advantage on the descent towards Gavarnie.

The Portet is a much more recent addition. The climb above Saint Lary made its Tour debut in 2018, when Nairo Quintana won a shortened stage finishing at the summit. The race returned three years later, with Tadej Pogačar winning in yellow ahead of Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz and it has not featured since.

A return would therefore fit with Prudhomme’s stated desire to revisit newer Tour locations rather than allowing them to remain one off experiments.

The report also gives another indication of what to expect from the 2027 Tour.

The Pyrenees are expected to return towards the end of the race, something that has not happened since 2022, with the Alps taking that late race slot in recent editions. The 2027 Tour begins in Edinburgh on Friday, July 2, with three stages in Great Britain before the peloton crosses the Channel and resumes racing in Normandy.

That opening sequence was already known, but reports around the rest of the route are beginning to accumulate.

As reported earlier this month, the Col du Granon is also a candidate to return in either 2027 or 2028. The climb above Serre Chevalier has not featured since Jonas Vingegaard overturned Pogačar’s Tour on its slopes in 2022.

Other Alpine possibilities have also surfaced, including another visit to the Col de la Loze and even a possible Italian excursion towards Sestriere and the Colle delle Finestre.

The only certainty from the latest reports is that the Hautes Pyrénées will once again feature in the Tour. Whether that means a stage over the Aubisque and Tourmalet before a finish on the Portet remains to be seen.

But if it does, the Tour may already have found one of the defining stages of its 2027 edition.