•3 min read
Brussels has thrown its hat into the ring to host the 2030 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift Grand Départ, with the city formally submitting its candidacy to Amaury Sport Organisation on 16 December 2025.
Brussels sports councillor Florence Frelinx announced the bid in an interview with La Dernière Heure, positioning the race start as a centrepiece of Belgium's 200th independence anniversary celebrations. The proposal would see stages wind past the Grand Place, Palace of Justice, Cinquantenaire Park and Royal Palace, showcasing the capital's mix of historic and EU institutional landmarks.
"Hosting the Grand Départ of the women's Tour in 2030 is not just about bringing one of the world's biggest races to the Grand Place," Frelinx said. "It's a major economic and media opportunity for Brussels."
The bid builds on Brussels' confirmed hosting of the 2030 UCI Road World Championships, which will deliver resurfaced roads, timing systems and media infrastructure that can be repurposed for a summer Tour start. City officials are framing 2030 as a "cycling festival" year, with the dual events offering a rare chance to position Brussels as a European racing hub.
Rare foreign start in growing calendar
Foreign Grand Départs have not yet become the norm for the women's Tour, which relaunched in 2022. To date, only Rotterdam has hosted a start outside France, welcoming the 2024 edition in a move that generated an economic impact of €12.2 million for Rotterdam and a 111% rise in new club members in the city.
ASO has already confirmed Lausanne, Switzerland for 2026 and Great Britain for 2027, but post-2027 slots remain open in a sequential bidding process. Brussels is banking on its 2019 experience hosting the men's Tour Grand Départ, which drew 1 million visitors; estimated economic returns were €32.7m million, according to city figures.
The estimated €3 million cost for the 2030 bid would be split between Brussels, which has pledged around €1.5 million, and regional partners. Frelinx cited 4.4 million peak television viewers (2.7 million average) on France Télévisions in 2025 as evidence of the race's promotional reach.
Frelinx recently met with Tour director Christian Prudhomme in Paris, describing him as enthusiastic about the bid's "unifying and inclusive" nature. ASO has not yet made a decision, with the organisation reviewing candidacies on a rolling basis as it maps out the women's Tour calendar through the decade.
If successful, the 2030 Grand Départ would mark Belgium's third Tour de France start in 12 years, following Brussels in 2019 and two stages entirely based in Brussels in the same edition.
