Stage 2 – Roskilde to Nyborg – 202.2km – Saturday, July 2

One of the longest stages in this year’s race, the Tour’s first road stage starts on the island of Zealand and finishes across the Great Belt Strait on the island of Funen.

The day begins in Roskilde, home of the famous rock festival, (which coincidentally wraps-up on Saturday as well). The opening hour should be intense as riders battle to make it into the Tour’s first breakaway. With three Category 4 climbs on tap as the stage works its way around the northern tip of the island, one of these escapees will take the polka dot jersey as the first leader of the Tour’s King of the Mountains competition at the end of the stage, making the formation of this breakaway one of the most competitive in each year’s Tour.

Things might get interesting as the race hits the Intermediate Sprint in Kalundborg as the race takes a 180-degree turn and begins heading south along Zealand’s western coast. With wind forecast to be coming from the southwest at 10-20mph, there will be several opportunities for the Tour’s stronger teams to split the race into echelons here, and if that happens, anyone who’s not able to rejoin the leading group before the race makes the right turn onto the 18km long Great Belt Bridge (which heads directly into the wind), could lose large chunks of time.

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The finish in Nyborg comes soon after the riders leave the bridge. The finale is fairly straightforward with just three corners inside the final 3km. The road bends gently to the right inside the final 300 meters, but it’s wide and smooth, which offers lots of room to operate.

While wind could be a factor, the forecast calls for temperatures in the 70s and partly cloudy skies, which is good news after Friday’s rainy time trial.

Riders to Watch

This is one of the few chances the Tour’s field sprinters will have to win a stage during the Tour’s first week, so you can bet they’re going to do everything they can to keep their fast men at the front of the race and on the front of any splits in the peloton. The Netherlands’ Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) is a top favourite as he rides for a team that’s perfected the art of mastering echelons and winning Tour de France field sprints. Expect to enjoy the rare sight of a rider wearing the yellow jersey (Belgium’s Yves Lampaert) leading-out his teammate in an attempt to win the stage.

Belgium’s Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), who’s just 5 seconds behind Lampaert’s yellow jersey and out for revenge following his upset defeat on Stage 1, is the other top favorite. With 10-, 6-, and 4-second time bonuses awarded to the top-3 finishers, van Aert can take the yellow jersey with a win or a second-place finish.

Other riders to watch include Australia’s Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), Norway’s Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux), the Netherlands’ Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), and Denmark’s Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo).

When to Watch

We’re planning to tune-in at about 16h30, just as the riders get ready to cross the Great Belt Bridge. If the wind is stronger than forecast, the race might already have blown apart, so if you’re able to start your viewing earlier in the morning, you might not be disappointed.