The favorites of the 109th Tour de France have to show their strength right from the start.
In the 13.2-kilometer individual time trial in Copenhagen, there can already be small gaps between defending champion Tadej Pogacar and the challengers Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard, Alexander Vlassow and Geraint Thomas. Favorites on the technical course with over 20 corners are Italy’s world champion Filippo Ganna and Belgian Wout van Aert.
Since showers are forecast for Friday afternoon – the first starter leaves the ramp at 4 p.m. – this can happen weather play a crucial role. Instead of being in the last group, as is traditional, the contenders for overall victory decided to start much earlier.
The Slovenian Primoz Roglic is already the 21st driver on the track at 4.20 p.m., defending champion Tadej Pogacar starts at 5.05 p.m. Two minutes before the Slovene, time trial world champion Filippo Ganna tackles the 13.2-kilometre course, followed immediately by his greatest rival, Belgian Wout van Aert, for the first win of the day. The German time trial champion Lennard Kämna starts his Tour de France at 5:23 p.m. The first starter leaves at 4:00 p.m., the last at 6:55 p.m.