Tour de France’s first journey to the UK was a ‘catastrophe’ with ‘worst stage of all time’
The Tour de France will return to UK shores in 2027, with the Grand Depart taking place in Edinburgh – but the race got off to a shaky start with the UK
The Tour de France and the UK haven’t always had a happy marriage – especially after its first showing on these shores.
Cycling’s biggest race will make its return to the UK in 2027, with stages set to be hosted in Scotland, England and Wales.
It the fifth time the race has hoped across the English channel, and Edinburgh (where the men’s race will start) will be hoping to avoid the same fate as Plymouth back in 1974.
The Tour’s first foray wasn’t exactly a joyous occasion. Riders received a less than warm welcome upon their arrival, the expected crowds failed to materialise, and the TV coverage left much to be desired.
To top it all off, the Plymouth stage is often ranked among the top ten dullest stages in the Tour de France’s history, reports Plymouth Live.
The decision to bring the race to England was made to commemorate the launch of the Plymouth to Roscoff ferry service, which began operations in 1973. Perhaps more significantly, it coincided with Britain’s entry into the Common Market.
Eddy Merckx had won the Prologue in Brest before Ercole Gualazzini triumphed into Saint-Pol-de-Leon before it was time for Plymouth.
The Stage spanned 164km but consisted of 20 loops of a short stretch of the recently-opened A38 Plympton bypass – a decision that retrospectively proved to be a mistake.
Shutting down a hectic road in both lanes was a logistical nightmare, especially given that each circuit took around 15 minutes and it would affect holidaymakers. The stage was also set for the final Friday in June, causing quite a stir.
Back then, the general consensus was Brits simply didn’t embrace the race’s ethos, hence its location on a secluded stretch of tarmac to avoid playing havoc with regular traffic.
While the actual organisation of the stage was successful – even if the action on the bike wasn’t – getting the riders to and from France turned into a disaster – and ironically, ended up promoting the ferry service.
They created an extraordinarily long delay as they checked the 124 riders as they entered and left the country, leaving them all with little enthusiasm to repeat the English experiment.
“We were treated like illegal immigrants,” says former professional cyclist Barry Hoban, of the welcome the riders received from customs officials at Exeter Airport, speaking to the BBC.
“‘Barry, what’s happening, what’s happening?’ they asked, ‘It’s not my fault!'” he said of the experience, adding: “I was embarrassed to be British.”
After a gruelling 200km trek, the riders were gagging to hit their hotel beds, but traffic control wasn’t having any of it. “I had come to an arrangement with the customs and immigration officials,” Palmer revealed. “Come the actual day they let me down stinking.”
When he confronted the officials, Palmer got short shrift: “When I went to see the customs people, and said ‘Look, this isn’t what was promised’. They said ‘You keep out of it. If you want to get yourself in trouble, carry on doing what you’re doing’.
“We thought they’d be glad to just shove them on a plane to get rid of them, but they kept them hanging about for a couple of hours, getting all the riders to fill in forms.”
Even the race itself was a bit of a snoozefest, with the route looping around the Plympton bypass – no chance for the big breakaway or lone ranger heroics, and it all wrapped up with a group dash for the line.
Despite some belting sunshine and a noisy crowd egging on Britain’s Barry Hoban, he only managed ninth.
Instead, newbie Dutch rider Henk Poppe, aged just 21 and fresh into pro cycling, snatched his one and only Grand Tour stage victory of his career, while Joseph Bruyere hung onto the yellow jersey nestled safely in the pack.
“I’ve ridden twelve Tours de France and that was the most boring stage I’ve ever, ever ridden,” Hoban confessed to the BBC. The TV coverage didn’t fare much better, and despite solid publicity and local press support, only an estimated 15,000 fans turned up to cheer on the riders.
Since then, the Tour de France has returned to UK soil three times. In 1994, two stages were held to commemorate the opening of the Channel Tunnel, while 2007 and 2014 saw the race kick off in London and Yorkshire respectively.
