Event guide · Jul 2–Jul 25, 2027
Keswick to Liverpool is 223 km through the Lake District and Lancashire, with five climbs before a finish on the Strand.
Stage 2 of the 2027 Tour de France runs 223 km from Keswick to Liverpool on Saturday, July 3, a hilly day that ends on the Strand, beside the Three Graces. Stages 2 and 3 are both 223 km, one short of stage 8, the longest.
From Keswick the race rides south beside Thirlmere, Grasmere, Rydal Water and Windermere, then leaves the Lake District through the Lyth Valley and follows the Morecambe Bay coast. Lancashire takes up about 80 miles of the stage, through Morecambe, Lancaster, the Forest of Bowland, Clitheroe, Blackburn and Chorley. The Trough of Bowland and the hill at Rivington are on the route.
ProCyclingUK counts five categorized climbs, starting with the Côte de Jubilee Tower on the edge of the Pennines. Wind on the coast and 223 km of rolling road can pull the bunch into pieces before the sprinters’ teams take control, and the stage has enough climbing to let a strong breakaway disagree with them. Cyclist magazine still expects a sprint on the Strand.
Keswick and Liverpool are both on the Tour map for the first time, according to ASO‘s list of first-time stage towns.
| # | Climb | Position | Length | Average | Altitude |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Côte de Jubilee Tower | km 88.0 (135.0 to go) | 3.8 km | 6.1 % | 285 m |
| 2 | Côte de Trough of Bowland | km 98.5 (124.5 to go) | 1.9 km | 5.2 % | 293 m |
| 3 | Côte de Waddington Fell | km 112.0 (111.0 to go) | 3.4 km | 6.4 % | 347 m |
| 4 | Côte de Belmont | km 152.5 (70.5 to go) | 2.0 km | 4.0 % | 326 m |
| 5 | Côte de Parbold | km 183.0 (40.0 to go) | 1.8 km | 5.6 % | 122 m |
| Kilometer | Place | Altitude |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Keswick | 166 m |
| 28.5 | Windermere | 110 m |
| 52.5 | Milnthorpe | 46 m |
| 65.5 | Carnforth | 24 m |
| 76.0 | Lancaster | 10 m |
| 88.0 | Côte de Jubilee Tower | 285 m |
| 98.5 | Côte de Trough of Bowland | 293 m |
| 112.0 | Côte de Waddington Fell | 347 m |
| 132.5 | Blackburn | 150 m |
| 152.5 | Côte de Belmont | 326 m |
| 161.0 | Chorley | 108 m |
| 183.0 | Côte de Parbold | 122 m |
| 206.0 | Prescot | 83 m |
| Finish, km 223.0 | Liverpool | 24 m |
Keswick is a market town in the Lake District National Park, just north of Derwentwater and below Skiddaw. Pencil making began here around 1792, using graphite from a local mine, and the Derwent Pencil Museum is still in town. ASO lists Keswick among the places that are new to the Tour map.
Liverpool finishes the stage on the Strand, the waterfront road near the Three Graces, on the east side of the Mersey estuary. The city opened the first inter-city railway, to Manchester, in 1830. The Tour has never finished a stage here.
Course figures: Organizer's profile, as reproduced by TourdeFranceParcours.fr, read 2026-10-22. Distances and altitudes may change when the route is homologated.
