"It’s a great candidacy": Tour director's words send chances of 2029 Grand Départ in Prague through the roof
Cycling
It's still nearly four years until the 2029 Tour de France, but the battle to host its Grand Depart is already in full swing. One of the frontrunners, Czech Republic, have presented their bid to Tour director Christian Prudhomme this week. And from the reactions of both parties, it seems like the meeting went to everyone's satisfaction with hopes for first-ever Tour de France in Czech Republic through the roof.
After the presentation, Prudhomme praised the candidacy he has been shown. "It’s a great candidacy, very well done. Prague is a beautiful city and thanks to what we saw during the presentation, we know that not only Prague is worth seeing," the head of the Tour de France is quoted by the NSA (Národní Sportovní Agentura) website.
According to NSA chairman Ondřej Šebek, Czech hopes for the candidacy have increased after visiting Paris. "I believe that our candidacy is of such high quality and comprehensiveness that it has a great chance of success," the head of the NSA hopes.
The actual start of the Tour de France could be symbolically hosted by Prague. If that were to be the case, the opening stage would take a long sightseeing detour throughout the city before leaving for a new destination. While details about the route proposal remain a secret at the moment, the opening stage of this year's Czech Tour, which started from Prague and rode to a popular spa city Karlovy Vary, could be one of the options.
While not a very mountainous country, Czech Republic can offer a varied terrain with exciting hilly transition stages, or even medium mountain challenges in border-bound mountain passes.
"We don’t have the Alps or the Pyrenees, but we can come close to the Massif Central with the profile of the stages," believes Roman Kreuziger, member of the delegation team, who finished 5th overall at the Grande Boucle in 2013.
Prudhomme seems pleased to see successful former riders involved with the project. "The involvement of Roman Kreuziger as a prominent personality of the Tour is certainly important and very beneficial," appreciated the race director. Another prominent Czech ex-professional Leopold König, 7th at the 2014 Tour de France, is in charge of the aforementioned 2.1 Czech Tour.
"Thanks to the composition of the working group, we can coordinate various areas so that they complement each other and the resulting effect is as great and positive as possible for both the Czech Republic and the Tour de France," Šebek adds.
Strong opposition
The other words of the Tour de France boss are also a hopeful promise for Czech cycling fans. "The Czech Republic has already shown that it can organize big events. Now it will be about evaluating the details for us, because of course more countries are trying to host it," Prudhomme pointed out.
Next to Czech Republic, also Slovenia appears to be a strong contender for the 2029 Grand Départ, especially if their candidature is boosted by the presence of (currently) four-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar.
Additionally, several French regions have expressed their opposition to the idea of the Tour heading abroad for three years in a row. The 2026 Tour starts in Barcelona, 2027 Grand Départ has been confirmed for Edinburgh and regarding 2028, Luxembourg has been mentioned as a frontrunner by multiple sources. A fourth year outside of France in a row might cause the cup of patience to overflow.
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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leedorney02-11-2026 - Watch the interview on youtube. I don't speak French. I do speak English and Spanish and you can hear it in his voice. Years ago LeMond had real personal problems I imagine in no small part because of Armstrong. then Armstrong goes round "full blast" re: LeMond having drinking and drug problems. The same way Andreu was expelled from mainstream cycling so was LeMond. On the positive side the clips of the ride and chatting with old teammates and was good. To seemed like a fun day and experience and good reason brush up his French.atom02-11-2026
- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin in this list is quite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
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- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
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- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
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