Bilbao to host 2023 Tour de France Grand Depart - organisers

The opening two stages will be held in the Basque country, where the Tour also began in 1992, when it rolled out from San Sebastian.

Action from the Tour de France in September, 2020. This year, the race will be held from June 26 to July 18. - REUTERS

The 2023 Tour de France will set off from Bilbao, marking the sixth time in 10 editions that the world's most famous cycling race starts outside France, its organisers said on Friday.

The opening two stages will be held in the Basque country, where the Tour also began in 1992, when it rolled out from San Sebastian.

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Since marking its "Grand Depart" in Yorkshire in Britain in 2015, the Tour has started in Utrecht in the Netherlands (2015), Duesseldorf in Germany (2017) as well as in Brussels (2019), and next year it will set out from Copenhagen.

This year's race will set off in home territory, beginning in Nice on June 26.