German Cycling confirmed on Tuesday that it has become the official backer of Germany's bid to host the 2029 Tour de France Grand Départ, formalising a partnership with the association Grand Départ Allemagne e.V. (GDA) that has been developing since early 2025. The federation's press release said GDA has joined German Cycling as a member organisation, and that the federation now holds formal responsibility for the application to ASO, the Tour's organiser.
GDA will continue to run the bid's day-to-day operations as an initiative of German Cycling. Dr. Thomas Hofmann, GDA's chairman and president of the Saxon cycling federation, and vice-chairman Andreas Prokop remain in charge of the strategic and operational work. "With German Cycling as the official backer, we have the setup a project of this size needs," Hofmann said.
The bid centres on Berlin and eastern Germany. German Cycling said the states of Berlin, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia are assessing the scope of their participation. Route concepts published on the bid's website list Berlin, Dresden, Jena, Erfurt, Magdeburg, Halle and Leipzig, with proposed stages including Dresden to Jena, Erfurt to Magdeburg and Halle to Leipzig. A Berlin prologue passing through the Brandenburg Gate has also been discussed, according to Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.
The 2029 date is tied to the 40th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has publicly endorsed the symbolism. "For me as a Frenchman and for many other Europeans, this event is above all connected to the fall of the Wall in November 1989," Prudhomme said in February, as reported by Der Tagesspiegel. "That would be a very strong signal: Berlin 2029 and the fall of the Wall 1989." The bid originally targeted 2030 before shifting toward 2029 as Berlin's role grew and ASO indicated a preference for the anniversary year.
Costs and political support
The projected cost of hosting the Grand Départ is up to €25 million, according to Mitteldeutsche Zeitung's March reporting. Hofmann said one-third of that sum would be covered by private sponsors, leaving at least €16 million to be funded by public authorities. Prokop has cited prior Grand Départ studies in arguing that for every euro spent, the economic return exceeds tenfold, with the bid's backers projecting a total benefit of around €150 million.
Political commitments remain incomplete. Berlin has expressed interest but has not made financial or contractual guarantees. Rudolf Scharping, the former German defence minister and honorary president of German Cycling, has been brokering contacts with ASO and political figures. Scharping described the bid as representing "freedom, European togetherness and the unifying power of sport."
Germany has hosted the Tour de France Grand Départ four times: Cologne in 1965, Frankfurt in 1980, West Berlin in 1987 and Düsseldorf in 2017. ASO's final decision on 2029 has not yet been announced.
Cover image credit: ASO/ Fotograf Esben Zøllner Olesen
