The first three stages of the competition will be run in Denmark, the home country of last year’s runner-up Jonas Vingegaard. Tadej Pogacar is aiming for his third consecutive victory.
The opening leg of the Tour of France, the Grand Départ, is often pedaled outside the borders of France. Now the world’s biggest cycling race starts in Denmark for the first time.
The famous tour will be run for the 109th time this summer. The competition starts on Friday, July 1st in the evening from Copenhagen.
Having the first three stages of the circumnavigation in a country known for its cycling culture has aroused enthusiasm among the locals.
There are more than 12,000 kilometers of cycle paths and routes in the country. Half of Copenhageners cycle to work.
The Danes are already looking forward to the competition, because the round trip was supposed to start in Denmark already last year. The competition was moved forward a year so that the event would not overlap with the men’s football European Championship, which was moved to 2021. European Championship matches were played in Copenhagen.
As the opening stage, a 13.2-kilometer time trial in Copenhagen will be pedaled. In the following days, there will be two flat stages. First, 202.5 kilometers from Roskilde to Nyborg and then a 182 kilometer stretch from Vejle to Sønderborg. After this, we move to Dunkirk, France.
In total, the Tour covers 21 stages and 3328 kilometers.
Denmark’s Vingegaard’s hunger has grown
Denmark’s cycling boom has been fueled by 25-year-old Jumbo-Visman Jonas Vingegaardwho finished second overall in his first Tour de France last year.
The country’s most famous cyclist is, however Bjarne Riiswho won the Tour de France in 1996. Riis was often suspected of using banned substances, but he was never caught during his career.
After his career in 2007, however, he admitted that he had used the EPO hormone and momentarily lost his all-around victory. However, it was returned to him the following year because, according to the International Cycling Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA, too much time had passed since the violation to warrant a penalty.
Pre-favorite Pogacar is looking for a third consecutive victory
The advance favorite of the Tour is the Slovenian and UAE Emirates team, which has won the previous two overall competitions Tadej Pogacar. A year ago, Pogacar celebrated victory in Paris with an overwhelming five minute and 20 second gap to Vingegaard.
Jumbo-Visma’s top riders Vingegaard and the three Slovenians who won the previous tour of Spain Primoz Roglic can threaten Pogacar’s success.
– If we work together, we believe we can beat him. We make each other stronger, Roglic told news agency AFP.
The duo occupied the top spots in the prestigious eight-stage Criterium du Dauphine race at the beginning of June. Roglic won and Vingegaard was second.
Another INEOS driver, a Colombian, is also missing from the starting line with tough names Egan Bernal, who crashed into a bus near Bogota in January and was seriously injured. Bernal became the first South American to win the Tour de France in 2019.
The reigning world champion of road cycling Julian Alaphilippe couldn’t fit into his team’s Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl line-up. He was involved in a violent crash in April’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege spring classic. Alaphilippe broke his bones and got an air front and didn’t get in top shape in time.
Competed in the Tour of Italy in May Jaakko Hänninen is not in the Tour line-up of his team AG2R Citroen Team
The winner of the Tour de France will arrive at the finish line in Paris on July 24.