Tour de France 2022 – Stage 2 preview

Image 1 of 2 Profile for stage 2 of 2022 Tour de France (Image credit: Amaury Sport Organisation ) Image 1 of 2 Route map for stage 2 of 2022 Tour de France (Image credit: Amaury Sport Organisation ) Image 1 of 2 Stage 2: Roskilde to Nyborg Date: July 2, 2022 Distance: 202. 2km Stage timing: 12:15 – 16:59 CEST Stage type: Flat The longest of the three Danish stages for this year’s Tour de France , stage 2 starts on Zealand and finishes on Funen after crossing the Great Belt Bridge. The sign-in festivities are held in historic surroundings at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, and after a ceremonial route through the city, the peloton will travel west on the old Ledreborg Allé, past the remains of Viking Age Lejre, before turning towards Holbæk, the place of residence of Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), and further on to Odsherred.

After 55 kilometres, the race enters Veddinge Bakker, a hilly area in Odsherred that offers three classified climbs for those who are targeting the polka-dot jersey. Asnæs Indelukke, Høve Stræde, nor Kårup Strandbakke are easy climbs for a Tour peloton, with the narrow roads on the twisty course possibly being a bigger difficulty than the hills themselves. From Veddinge Bakker, the race will closely follow the coastline for 90 kilometres.

The intermediate sprint is held in Kalundborg, a city with a remarkable medieval church with five towers; then the peloton will head south towards Korsør and the Great Belt Bridge. The bridge crossing starts with 21 km to go, first on the East Bridge, a suspension bridge with the world’s sixth-longest main span that takes the peloton to an altitude of over 60 metres, almost the same as on the classified climbs earlier on the stage – though there is no mountain sprint atop the bridge. Having descended the other side, the race will cross the small island of Sprogø to reach the West Bridge, a lower box-girder bridge that is only about 20 metres above sea level.

Since its completion in 1998, the Tour of Denmark has crossed the Great Belt Bridge four times in 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2004, but always from the west to the east and never in the final of a stage. Leaving the bridge at the three-kilometre mark and turning onto the finishing straight with 700 metres to go, the race finishes just outside the centre of Nyborg, for a while considered the capital of Denmark during the Middle Ages. The main factor on stage 2 will be the wind.

Putting the route at the coast and on the Great Belt Bridge, the organisers clearly hope for crosswinds and echelons. However, this is a gamble with an uncertain outcome, even more so as wind in the area mainly comes from a southwesterly direction which would mean head-crosswinds both on the section along the coast and on the bridge. Early July is the time of year with the lowest average wind speeds, too.

The best situation would be steady wind either from the west, producing a full-on crosswind on the way from Kalundborg to the Great Belt Bridge, but headwind on the bridge itself, or from the south, meaning a headwind from Kalundborg that would become a crosswind just before the bridge. Depending on the time gaps after the opening time trial, the yellow jersey could be in play, as riders may be able to take the jersey through time bonifications at the finish, or they may have to try to drop the stage 1 winner in the echelons. Pedersen has prepared for just such a scenario and will be highly motivated to get the yellow jersey on home soil or, failing that, take a stage win.

Other Danish riders that could target the maillot jaune in this way are Magnus Cort (EF Education-EasyPost) and Søren Kragh Andersen (Team DSM) while the likes of Kasper Asgreen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) or Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates) will have to hope for echelons. If the peloton gets torn apart by the wind as hoped by the organisers, the stage winner will be whoever has the most power left for a sprint after potentially over 100 kilometres in the wind. If the wind does not come out to play, however, the top sprinters will go for the stage – from Fabio Jakobsen (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl), Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix), and Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) to Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe), Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies), Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), Bryan Coquard (Cofidis), Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) or Mike Teunissen (Team Jumbo-Visma).

Teunissen’s teammate Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) cannot be underestimated, either. .