A country of approximately 5.8 million inhabitants, Denmark will have the honor of hosting the Grand Depart Tour de France 2022. The Tour is established in one of the greenest countries in the world with one of the happiest in the world.
In 2021, the World Happiness Index (WMI) ranked Denmark second. Cycling plays an essential role in this status. Cycling is part of daily life in Denmark. It is the means of transport favored by the Danes to get to work, to do the shopping… Organizing the Departure Tour de France 2022 in Denmark was obvious for ASO, the organizer of the race.
Denmark in brief
Political regime: Constitutional monarchy
Reine : Margrethe II
Royal motto: The help of God, the love of the people, the strength of Denmark
Area : 43,098 km² (2,220,000 km² including Greenland og and the Faroe Islands)
Population : 5 900 000 habitants
Capital : Copenhagen (613,000 inhabitants and more than 2 million with the outskirts)
Cash : Danish Crown
Danish sports legends: Allan Simonsen (football, Ballon d’or France Football in 1977), Michael Laudrup (football), Mikkel Hansen (handball), Thomas Bjørn (golf), Caroline Wozniacki (tennis), Peter Gade (badminton), Kamilla Rytter Juhl (badminton )
The Grand Depart Tour de France 2022 in a cycling country
Copenhagen was one of the best equipped cities to host the Grand Départ of the Tour de France. The biggest cycling race in the world goes to the country, Denmark, and its capital, Copenhagen, which offer a very important place to cycling in everyday life. According to a local study, nine out of ten Danes own a bicycle which they use at least three times a week. Nearly one child in two goes to school by bicycle, a world record. The country has 12,000 km of cycle tracks and lanes. Cities are designed to travel by bike and developments are made accordingly. Every day of the week, cyclists in Copenhagen travel the equivalent of 400 editions of the Tour de France, or approximately 1,440,000 km. The Danish capital has 673,000 bicycles. 44% of trips to places of work and study are made by bike, it’s no wonder that Copenhagen has been named the best cycling city in the world.
Denmark is a land of cycling and has a strong base of Tour de France fans. There is no doubt that the Tour de France 2022 will be welcomed with fanfare. In 2011, the world road cycling championships were established in Copenhagen in a big popular celebration to crown the coronation of Mark Cavendish.
Now it’s up to the Danish riders to write history with the new golden generation. The Michael Valgren, Søren Kragh Andersen, Mads Pedersen, Magnus Cort Nielsen, Jakob Fuglsang could shine from the first days of racing on Danish land.
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The Danes and the Tour de France
You have to go back more than a century to see the first participation of a Danish rider in the Tour de France. Danish cycling has continued to progress since the beginning of the 2000s. The Grand Départ in Copenhagen will be the showcase for a young generation which is beginning to shine at the highest level, notably with Magnus Cort Nielsen, Soren Kragh Andersen, Mads Pedersen and Jonas Vingaard.
The story is little known but the first World Cycling Championships took place in the Danish capital of Copenhagen over a hundred years ago in 1921. Planning for this project had begun the previous year at the headquarters of the Union Cycliste Internationale, which was then based in Paris, a stone’s throw from the editorial staff of L’Auto, where the Tour de France was “invented”, in what was clearly a fertile area for the development of brilliant ideas.
Before the First World War, Christian Christensen had brought Danish cycling to the fore. The Dane had left Denmark to live in France, in Cherbourg where he became the first rider to participate in the 1913 Tour de France. However, it would take two world wars to see a Danish rider finally finish the Tour de France with the 62nd place in the general classification of the Tour de France 1958 of Hans Andresen.
In 1970, Danish cycling will enter another dimension with the victory of Mogens Frey in Mulhouse during the Tour de France 1970, it will be the only appearance of the Danish rider on the Grande Boucle. Danish cycling is also known for darker times with the highly controversial victory of Bjarne Riis and the equally inglorious performance of Michael Rasmussen. Then Danish cycling picked up. Nicki Sørensen was one of Alberto Contador’s most important lieutenants in the 2010s. The Dane also had his day of glory with his solo victory in Vittel during the twelfth stage of the 2009 Tour de France The late Chris Anker Sørensen also left his mark on the Tour de France by becoming the first Dane to win the Prix de la Combativité in the 2012 Tour de France.
For now, the new generation is doing Denmark proud. Magnus Cort Nielsen won a stage in 2018. Soren Kragh Andersen won two stages in 2020. With 11 Danish riders on the Tour de France 2021, Denmark revealed the extent of its talent with in particular the very fine second place in the standings general of Jonas Vingegaard and who will be one of the favorites of the Tour de France 2022 and one of the darlings of the public of the Grand Depart Tour de France 2022.
The 11 Danish riders of the Tour de France 2021 (a record):
- Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-Quick Step)
- Mikkel Bjerg (UAE-Emirates)
- Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF-Nippo) J
- Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech)
- Christopher Juul Jensen (BikeExchange)
- Soren Kragh Andersen (DSM)
- Michael Morkov (Deceuninck-Quick Step)
- Casper Pedersen (DSM)
- Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo)
- Michael Valgren (EF-Nippo)
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma)
What do politicians think?
Lars Weiss, President of the Grand Départ Copenhagen Denmark 2022: “Our capital, Copenhagen, is known as the best city in the world for cyclists”. “Denmark is an ideal partner for the Tour de France. The Grand Départ from Denmark will be a lever to highlight some of the most beautiful and emblematic regions of our country, and to highlight our unique cycling culture where cycling is a way of life.”
Simon Kollerup, Danish Minister for Industry, Trade and Financial Affairs: “The three Danish stages will fill our streets with tourists enjoying the summer, and viewers from all over the world will follow the peloton through our country. It will be a great opportunity to showcase the special DNA of Danish cycling and promote our lovely rural areas, Danish tourism and Danish businesses.”
Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France: “The Tour de France is the greatest cycling race on Earth, but we still have a lot to learn! The Danes set a remarkable example by making the bicycle their first means of transport in urban areas. In Copenhagen, we will meet supporters cheering for the champions of world cycling. The energy that supporters and curious locals will channel towards the riders, followers and viewers of the Tour will most certainly be a great source of inspiration to succeed in our greatest challenge: to see the future by bike.”
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Nicholas Depres
