page_title: Tour de France
section_title: Starts abroad
hierarchical_section_title: Tour de France / The start and finish of the Tour / Starts abroad
caption_attribution_description: Grand Départ of the Tour de France in Utrecht.
context_page_description: The Tour de France is an annual men's multiple stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours, it consists of 21 day-long stages over the course of 23 days. It has been described as "the world’s most prestigious and most difficult bicycle race."
  The race was first organized in 1903 to increase sales for the newspaper L'Auto and is currently run by the Amaury Sport Organisation. The race has been held annually since its first edition in 1903 except when it was stopped for the two World Wars. As the Tour gained prominence and popularity, the race was lengthened and its reach began to extend around the globe. Participation expanded from a primarily French field, as riders from all over the world began to participate in the race each year. The Tour is a UCI World Tour event, which means that the teams that compete in the race are mostly UCI WorldTeams, with the exception of the teams that the organizers invite. It has become "the world's biggest annual sporting event." A women's Tour de France was held under different names between 1984 and 2009.
context_section_description: The following editions of the Tour started, or are planned to start, outside France:
  1954: Amsterdam, Netherlands
  1958: Brussels, Belgium
  1965: Cologne, West Germany
  1973: The Hague, Netherlands
  1975: Charleroi, Belgium
  1978: Leiden, Netherlands
  1980: Frankfurt, West Germany
  1982: Basel, Switzerland
  1987: West Berlin, West Germany
  1989: Luxembourg, Luxembourg
  1992: San Sebastián, Spain
  1996: Den Bosch, Netherlands
  1998: Dublin, Ireland
  2002: Luxembourg, Luxembourg
  2004: Liège, Belgium
  2007: London, United Kingdom
  2009: Monte Carlo, Monaco
  2010: Rotterdam, Netherlands
  2012: Liège, Belgium
  2014: Leeds, United Kingdom
  2015: Utrecht, Netherlands
  2017: Düsseldorf, Germany
  2019: Brussels, Belgium
  2022: Copenhagen, Denmark
caption: Tour de France 2015 in Utrecht, Netherlands
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