Tour de France 2027 Route stage 3: Welshpool - Cardiff
Published on 9 November 2027
Type: hilly
Favourites: puncheurs, resilient sprinters
The riders set off from Welshpool and head south. Just before the 20-kilometre mark, the road rises gradually for a while, but otherwise there is little to get excited about. The race begins to warm up after just over 80 kilometres, when Pennau Hill serves up 3.7 kilometres of climbing at 7.9%.
Côte d'Epynt, as the French perfer to call the climb, offers a first taste of what the second half of the stage has in store. Around 30 kilometres later, Storey Arms - or, Côte de Bannau Brycheiniog - serves up another warm-up: 6.6 kilometres at 3.4%.
The race will really explode on the first of a series of climbs packed into a relatively short stretch. First up are the climb to Rhigos, Penrhys and from Maerdy, measuring 4.6 kilometres at 5.8%, 1.3 kilometres at 10.1% and 1.5 kilometres at 8.7%, respectively. All three are on the menu within a 25-kilometre stretch.
After the descent and a flat 14-kilometre section, the climbs to Gelligaer and Hengoed mark the pre-finale. They follow one another directly, measuring 1.4 kilometres at 4.9% and 700 metres at 11%, respectively. Another 11 kilometres after passing through Hengoed, it is finally time for the final climb: Caerphilly Mountain, aka Côte de Caerffili, a 2-kilometre ascent at an average gradient of 8.1%.
From Caerphilly Mountain, it is 12.5 kilometres to the finish in Cardiff. Half of that distance goes downhill and the other half is flat.
Caerphilly Mountain featured in the finale of the final stage of the 2025 Tour of Britain, when Olav Kooij sprinted to triumph in Cardiff. That stage was considerably shorter and less demanding, though.
Tour de France 2027, stage 3: route, profile, videos
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