Norway considers bid for 2022 Tour de France grand départ

Norway could stage the Tour de France’s grand départ in 2022, which would make it the first Nordic nation to host the launch of the cycling race.

Following the success of recent starts outside France, of which there have been an increasing number, Stavanger in the south-west of Norway is being lined up as a possible host for the event in five years’ time.

The town is the home of the Norwegian state-owned oil company Statoil, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2022. The company is said to be offering sponsorship to cover the considerable costs of hosting the grand départ.

A spokesman for Statoil, Bård Glad Pedersen, told the Guardian: “We do not want to comment on speculation on any role for Statoil in this. But, of course, also in Statoil we think it is very exciting if it is possible to have a Tour de France grand départ in Norway.”

There has reportedly been behind-the-scenes lobbying for a Norwegian grand départ for a number of years, with the intensity increasing in recent months.

Harald Tiedemann Hansen, the president of the Norwegian cycling association, told the Norwegian cycling magazine Pro-cycling: “We are looking at this as a great opportunity for us and will be an active part in getting a grand départ to Norway.”

Under one plan, Norway would hold a number of stages to allow the race to pass through Oslo.

The next step in the process will be a formal written bid to the Tour de France organiser, ASO, which also owns the rights to a major cycling race in Norway, the Arctic Race of Norway.

Next year’s Tour de France is due to start in the Vendée region of France, and Brussels will play host to the grand départ in 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Eddy Merckx’s first Tour win.

The race has previously started in Spain, Luxembourg, Monaco, what was west Germany, and Ireland. The first start outside of France was in the Netherlands in 1954.

When the Tour started in Yorkshire in 2014, nearly 5 million people lined the streets to cheer the racers on. The race was estimated to have generated £128m for Yorkshire and a further £30m for Cambridgeshire, Essex and London, through which the racers passed.

The race has always finished in Paris, where on Sunday Britain’s Chris Froome sealed his fourth Tour victory.