Copenhagen Set To Play Host To Stage 1 of the Tour de France
Stage 1 - Copenhagen to Copenhagen (ITT) - 13.2km - Friday, July 1
After originally planning to host the Grand Depart of the 2020 Tour de France, Denmark finally gets to welcome the world’s biggest bike race, with a short individual time trial through the center of Copenhagen that takes in many of city’s most famous sites, including the iconic statue of the little mermaid inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
The course is flat, fast, and technical, with many hard turns as it winds and wraps its way through the city. The stage win–and the Tour’s first yellow jersey–should therefore go to a time trial specialist who’s able to push a big gear on the longer straight stretches while braking as late as possible when taking corners to maintain his speed. To make matters more challenging, rain is expected to begin before the first rider sets off, which means riders will need to choose between taking risks to win the stage and staying upright on the slick, city roads.
While we don’t expect any time gaps on the Tour’s General Classification to decide the race overall, this is a key stage in terms of the Tour’s mental battle. If Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) manages to gain time on both Slovenia’s Primož Roglič and Denmark Jonas Vingegaard (both riding for Jumbo-Visma), he’ll start the race with a mental edge over his challengers. But if one or both of Jumbo’s co-captains somehow gets the better of Pogačar, then they’ll head into the Tour’s difficult first week feeling as if they’ve got a legitimate shot at upsetting the two-time defending champ.
And there’s an added incentive for teams who perform well on Stage 1: better position in the caravan of team cars that follows the peloton on road stages. With caravan positions decided by each team’s top rider on the Tour’s General Classification–and chaos all but guaranteed during the Tour’s first several road stages (especially Stage 5’s return to the cobblestones of northern France)–riders who perform well will give themselves and their teammates access to faster service from their team cars, which is a big deal this early in the Tour.
Riders to Watch
Riding his first Tour de France, Italy’s Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) is the favorite to win the stage and the Tour’s first yellow jersey. The reigning two-time world time trial champion, Ganna’s won 19 individual time trials in 2019, including 6 in at the Giro d’Italia. Winner of Stage 4’s ITT at the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, he’s fresh, ready, and has a brand new Pinarello Bolide time trial to help launch him to victory.
That said, if someone does manage to upset the Italian, look for Switzerland’s Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) or Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost), Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), or perhaps Pogačar himself to be one the one to do it.
When to Watch
The stage starts late in the day, with the first rider departing at 10:00 a.m. EST and the last rider rolling down the start ramp at 12:55 p.m. EST. The contenders for both the stage and the Tour are all setting-off early, with Roglič starting at 10:20AM, Vingegaard starting at 10:42AM, and Ganna, Van Aert, and Pogačar going off back-to-back-to-back in 1-minute intervals starting at 11:03AM.
Our plan is to have the stage on in the background while we’re doing other things and checking-in periodically during the first 90 minutes as the best riders complete the course. Then we’ll tune-in again at about 1:00PM to watch the end of the stage and the presentation of the Tour’s first yellow jersey.
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