The Tour de France starts in Copenhagen on Friday. The Danes are full of euphoria and especially celebrate last year’s second Jonas Vingegaard.
Bikes everywhere you look, they are piled up at bike stations and bike racks around Copenhagen Central Station. The wide, well-maintained cycle paths are busy. Cargo bikes, racing bikes, Dutch bikes, rental bikes, e-bikes, mountain bikes – all on the go. It would have Tour de France so not needed to bring cycling closer to the Danes.
Image effect for the Tour de France
Seven out of ten Danes own a bicycle, in Copenhagen the figure is even nine out of ten, and there are five bicycles for every car in the city. “Why have one bike when you can have three?”exclaimed Copenhagen Mayor Sophie Haestorp Andersen at the presentation of the Tour de Franceteams on Wednesday evening (06/29/22) into the crowd that had gathered in the Tivoli opposite the train station.
And reaped an extensive cheering storm. No wonder then that tour director Christian Prudhomme Copenhagen as “Cycling Nirvana” described when the tour entourage arrived in the Danish capital on Monday.
North like never before
The starts for the 24th time Tour de France, the most important cycling race in the world, outside of France. However, the Grand Départ has never been so far north. This time, however, it’s more the tour that expects an image effect from the starting point – not the other way around. Cycling is considered to be one of the future pillars of mobility, especially in urban areas. The organizers of the tour have therefore been trying for years to establish a connection between professional cycling and environmentally friendly everyday cycling.
And where better to have that done than in Copenhagen, where the future already seems to be the present? Even if the tour entourage with all its trucks has to cover a distance of around 900 kilometers after the first three stages in Denmark. “We want to inspire the rest of the world”said Copenhagen’s mayor, “because cycling is easy, green, healthy and cheap.” Sophie Haestrop Andersen then drew the link to professional sport, in the spirit of the tour management, and expressed the hope that the Grand Départ would serve as an inspiration for Danish professional cyclists of the future.
Cycling is part of Denmark’s culture
The present is already impressive: ten Danish professional cyclists will take part in a time trial on Friday from the starting ramp in Copenhagen to the Tour de France start. That is one more than from Germany and the cycling nation Spain. Denmark and the Tour have a long history. A man named Christian Christiansen was the first Dane to start the race in 1913 but could not finish it.
“Cycling has a special place in Danish culture”says Kasper Asgreen from the team Quickstep-Alpha Vinyl. “That’s why they thought it was a good idea to come here with the biggest bike race in the world.” That should have happened in 2020, but then fell victim to the corona pandemic. Because of the postponed European Football Championship with games in Copenhagen, 2021 was not possible either. But now the time has come. The budget for the Grand Depart according to the organizers, rose from the equivalent of around 11.8 million euros to 12.6 million euros during this time.
Around a million spectators are expected
The expensive fun should now become excessive enthusiasm along the route. If you take the beery stadium atmosphere during the team presentation as a benchmark, the three days in Denmark should actually be extraordinary. Around a million spectators are expected along the 13.2-kilometer route for the time trial in Copenhagen.
Most of them will hope for a Danish winner. Also Kasper Asgreen, a good time trialist, had big ambitions for the day before a bad fall at the Tour de Suisse feared for a long time about his participation in the tour. “I don’t feel like that’s realistic anymore”says the 27-year-old when asked if he could finish at the top in the fight against the clock.
Hope Jonas Vingegaard
The greatest hopes of the Danes are now resting on a young man who Tour de France was the big discovery last year and arrived in Paris second overall: Jonas Vingegaard. When the 25-year-old professional cyclist rolled onto the stage with his team Jumbo-Visma on Wednesday, the enthusiasm didn’t end there. Vingegaard – overwhelmed by so much affection – had tears in his eyes, many more than “Yes, yeah, yes”he couldn’t bring himself to say.
Vingegaard is considered one of the favorites to win the tour. Together with Primoz Roglic he is the dual leader of the Jumbo-Visma team. Last year he was the Pogacar on Mont-Ventoux at least for a short period of time. One can assume that he will be carried through downtown Copenhagen by a hurricane of cheers on Friday, which will then carry him to Paris – preferably in the yellow jersey.
No invitation for Bjarne Riis
Vingegaard would not be the first tour winner from Denmark. That was Bjarne Riis in 1996 for the German team Telekom. Years later, like so many others, Riis also admitted that his success at the time was based on EPO doping. His yellow jersey is in a box in the garage, where you can pick it up, he explained at the time. A disrespect that the tour organizers took almost more crooked than the fraud.
That’s why Riis didn’t receive an invitation to the official tour bash in Copenhagen, which he doesn’t think is that great, you hear. But the shadows of the past should not disturb the bright yellow festival. “There has been a big culture change regarding doping, not only in Denmark”, says Asgreen. He is happy to be a professional cyclist today and not back then.
So everything is set for the big day that kicks off the 109th edition of the Tour de France. However, in the exuberance of his emotions, Christian Prudhomme already awarded the first yellow jersey in advance. To the audience at Tivoli. There was boundless cheering for that, too. Then on Saturday the convoy starts moving. In Copenhagen they have their beautiful cycle paths all to themselves again.