- Reims, which already got the show on the road in 1956, will host the start of the 115th edition of the Tour de France on Saturday, 24 June.
- Four stages in the Marne, Ardennes, Meuse and Moselle departments will reveal the secrets of the Grand Est Region.
- The 2028 Grand Départ will connect six stage cities: Charleville-Mézières, Épernay, Metz, Reims, Thionville and Verdun.
Next stop, Grand Est! After Spain in 2026 and the United Kingdom in 2027, the Grand Départ is returning to France for the 115th edition of the Grande Boucle. The peloton will roll out of Reims for the inaugural stage on Saturday, 24 June 2028, with the event running on a modified schedule to accommodate the Olympics.
The city of Clovis and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot will fire the starting shot for four days of racing in the Grand Est, where the peloton will discover the wonderful heritage of the region and tackle the sporting challenges of the Marne, Ardennes, Meuse and Moselle departments. Charleville-Mézières, Épernay, Metz, Reims, Thionville and Verdun will be the six stage cities on the map.
The Tour is heading back to a part of the country that has shaped the history of the Grande Boucle ever since it first set course for the East. Metz, then a German city, became the first foreign destination of the Tour in 1906. Half a century later, Reims hosted the Grand Départ for the first time with a stage to Liège, where André Darrigade got his first taste of yellow.
In more recent years, Julian Alaphilippe delivered one of the standout performances of the 2019 edition on the hills near Épernay. The next day, the Frenchman began his first day in yellow in front of Reims Cathedral, which had also seen the pious Gino Bartali clad in the coveted garment in 1938. Grand Est has long been a major scene in the legend of the Tour, and the saga is set to continue in 2028.
