FOUR WEEKS IN JULY

The Danish city of Copenhagen is well known for being a cycling paradise. Massive investment by the farsighted city council has paid for excellent infrastructure on which 41 per cent of commutes are on two wheels. Bikes, in Copenhagen, outnumber cars by five-and-a-half to one, and cycling injuries and casualties have been dropping since the mid-1990s. It has been described as the best place to ride a bike in the world.

Perhaps Tour de France boss Christian Prudhomme and his route designer Thierry Gouvenou knew what they were doing in making Copenhagen the hosts of the grand départ of the 2022 race. The opening four days of the 2021 Tour, in Brittany, were punctuated with crashes and incidents, many of which had a lasting and chilling effect on the race. Primož Roglic crashed twice, putting him first out of contention, then out of the Tour. Jack Haig broke a collarbone. Tony Martin hit a careless spectator and many riders came down. Caleb