Eire and Northern Eire declared in 2022 that they might submit a cross-border bid to host the Tour de France Grand Départ in 2026 or 2027, however the course of fizzled out amid price range pressures, the Irish Impartial reported this week.
A spokesperson for Tourism Eire, Fáilte Eire and Sport Eire confirmed to the Irish Impartial that the quite a few discussions concerning the proposal with their counterparts within the North and with Tour de France organisers ASO collapsed after the Division for the Financial system within the North knowledgeable the companions they must withdraw.
“Provided that the challenge was envisaged as a north-south all-island initiative, the Division isn’t ready to proceed past the strategy planning stage right now however will keep contact with the Tour de France organisers with a view to a possible future bid,” the assertion learn.
“The Tour de France organisers are conscious of this place and of the Division’s openness to reviving the joint-hosting proposal at a future level.”
The Tour de France began in Eire in 1998 with two phases in Dublin and one to Cork earlier than riders and groups transferred to France in a single day.
Grand Excursions had been allowed so as to add an additional relaxation day for international begins, and the Giro d’Italia organisers took benefit of this throughout Eire’s final cross-border Grand Tour phases in Belfast and Dublin.
The Tour de France visited the UK in 2007, when London hosted the beginning, and 2014 when Yorkshire held the Grand Départ.