Tour de France 2022 – Stage 1 (ITT)
Welcome to Copenhagen. Firstly, I would like to make a shoutout to Rasmus Nowak Franklin for doing his city walk about Copenhagen’s history with stage 1 in mind. I’ve you have not seen it already, it can be read here. We start things off with a flat time trial in Copenhagen.
It is not the easiest of time trials since you have to see most of Copenhagen in just 13.2 km! They roll down the ramp at Ørstedsparken, and have five corners inside the first 3 km. From there, it is on to a section for the powerhouses all the way down to the 5 km banner near Østerport. Then it gets technical around Langelinje, Kastellet, The Little Mermaid and Amaliensborg. We talk about narrow roads, breaking, and acceleration. This goes on until the 2km banner. On to HC Andersens Boulevard – and home.
That means you can roughly divide the route into a few sections.
13.2 – 10 km left: 700-800 meter straights and then a 90-degree turn.
10 – 5 km left: Trianglen. High speeds, powerhouse territory.
5 – 3 km left: Tourist traps. The most technical part of the route. Narrow roads even though it looks easy.
3 km left – finish: Empty the tank. Big roads. High speeds.
Overall, it suits the bigger riders. It is completely flat, but the section near The Little Mermaid is very, very technical – especially the bridge cross with 3.65 km left. We may see the GC riders just slip the gas for a few seconds here as there is no need to risk a crash. That favors the riders willing to go all-in for the yellow jersey.
Weather
The riders are starting late and there is a slight chance of rain in the evening. The riders are going in every direction tomorrow, so I would assume less wind would do the trick. Also, we are in the middle of the Capital – there will be buildings everywhere – I doubt the wind will play that big of a role. Near Trianglen it matter a bit, since we are near parks, but that is merely 1 km.
Contenders
Ganna – he is my big favorite for the stage and has remained so. With the new TT bike with discbrakes, he can now brake later and that means you are going faster than everyone else. He will have his eyes on the price, the yellow jersey and given he has won 11/15 of his last time trials, I think it is fair to say he will be difficult to beat.
Bissegger – it is a route that suits him well. He beat Ganna on a flat course in UAE but the wind impacted the stage heavily and his smaller size helped him in the difficult headwind section. He got covid in Tour de Suisse, but his form was very, very good before it. We will see how hard covid has hit him, otherwise, he should be challenging for the podium.
Wout van Aert – even speaks his own chances down. He has had a problem with his knee which means he has not had the optimal preparation. Before the Dauphiné he mentioned he had practiced a lot on his TT bike. It is a goal for him, but I think he is just one percent off Ganna with the injury in mind.
Küng – it has been a fantastic season for him. He will enjoy the first 10 km, but I think he may struggle just a bit on the technical section. He should be challenging for the podium.
Pedersen – with the Danes to carry him through the time trial, I have high hopes for Mads P. He has done well in time trials of this distance before, but it will be difficult to win. He will go all-out and hope to stay within bonus seconds margin to hopefully get the jersey at some point. I expect a top-10.
Lampaert – flying a bit under the radar. Won the Baloise Belgium Tour time trial and was second in the Belgium Nats. He is better on a pancake flat course of this distance. I think he could be challenging for a top-5.
As for the GC riders, Pogacar, Roglic, Vingegaard and G, I think the route suits the pure time trial specialists. They should all be fighting for a spot in the top-10. As for MvdP, he will hope to do a good time trial but I am not sure how much time he has used on his TT bike after the Giro d’Italia – and this is a very different TT competition.
Who will win?
A win for Ganna. With his two biggest rivals having a bad run-in, he should be able to take the yellow jersey.