Tour de France: Concerns over cycling route amid crumbling state of Snake Pass

Organisers of the famous race announced last week that the opening day of the 2027 women’s race would see a leg taking cyclists over the famous road, as they make their way between Manchester and Sheffield.

But there are concerns over the state of the route, one of the most scenic roads in Britain, which is currently seriously affected by landslips which have seen half the carriageway crumble away at one point, leaving one lane, controlled by traffic lights.

Derbyshire County Council said the exact route is not yet finalised, and that is still uncertain whether the landslips will have been repaired by the time the race takes place. But they have pledged that the Snake Pass would be safe if it is used.

Sheffield Council Lib Dems transport spokesman Ian Horner called for urgent action to fix the road, ahead of the race.

“I think it needs to be sorted urgently. The first thing I would say is that we welcome the Tour de France coming to Sheffield, but I think we need to be reassured about the safety of the cyclists,” he said.

“When we all talk about dangerous roads we think about cars, but even more vulnerable are motorcyclists and cyclists. If they go over a pot hole, a car may bump, but a motorcyclist or a cyclist can fall off.

“This needs to be resolved. This illustrates why the condition of the Snake Pass needs too be dealt with. There are parts of the road that are crumbling. What is going to be done about it?

“This is the time of year when roads suffer, with ice getting into the cracks and raising the surface.”

Mayors of Sheffield, Manchester and the East Midlands have all been calling for money to be made available to fix the damaged road, and all three were said to be discussing the issue together last year.

Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Potholes, Highways and Transport, Councillor Charlotte Hill, said the full details of the route were yet to be agreed.

She said: “We are delighted that the Tour de France Femmes is to use Derbyshire as part of their route in July 2027.

“Although the full details of the route are yet to be agreed, we understand that there is a wish to use Snake Pass, as one of Derbyshire’s iconic roads.

“We do currently have a couple of sections on the pass under traffic lights, where we have had landslips. We are about to commission a geotechnical survey of the landslip at Doctors Gate. The results of that survey will inform what the solution is for that area.

“At the moment it is not possible to say if the work on these two landslips will be completed by July 2027. We will of course make sure that the pass is safe for the Tour de France Femmes cyclists to use.”

The Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift begins in Leeds for an opening stage on Friday, July 30, 2027 travelling west and over the Pennines to Manchester.

Racing resumes a day later from Manchester for the stage through the Peak District to Sheffield, while London will provide a spectacular finale when stage three visits the capital on Sunday, August 1.

The 12-mile section of the A57, which connects Manchester and Sheffield, is managed by Derbyshire County Council but the authority has warned it cannot afford to keep repairing it.

The Department for Transport said the last year that the Government was committed to securing long-term funding so councils could invest in their highway networks, and said that While Derbyshire County Council was responsible for the road, it had provided £75 million to the East Midlands Combined Authority for 2025/26 to help support them in maintaining their local roads.