Next year’s Tour de France, from July 2 to 25, will go further north than ever before when it reaches the 70km mark on stage two, from Roskilde to Nyborg in Denmark.
The profiles of the first three stages, which consist of a 13km individual time-trial followed by stages of 199km and 182km, were revealed in Vejle, Denmark, today.
The Grand Depart will be in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. This will be the first time the Tour has visited Denmark, which will also become the 10th country to host the start.
The opening stage will be tailored to the most explosive riders in the field. Stage two will start in Roskilde and promises to deliver a strong battle among the classics specialists, who will face an 18km section of bridges while crossing the Great Belt in the run-in to Nyborg.
The peloton will discover a Nordic variant, the fjords, when it rolls out of Vejle for the third stage, which will be held in the southern part of the Jutland peninsula.
“The first few days of the Tour de France often set the tone and atmosphere of a race that develops into whatever the riders want to make of it over the following three weeks,” said Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.
“It is an exciting prospect to think that in July 2021 we will be applying the final touches to the start in the heart of a city that breathes and lives cycling.
“The first three stages will showcase the landscapes of Denmark and give rise to a wide range of scenarios in which power riders, echelon experts and sprinters will all get a chance to shine – a compendium of bicycle racing on flat terrain.”
A summary of the first three stages:
Stage one: Copenhagen (individual time-trial) 13km
Stage two: Roskilde to Nyborg, 199km
Stage three: Vejle to Sonderborg, 182km
