Preview Copenhagen Sprint 2025 | Mix of Giro sprinters and Tour contenders set for Danish sprint festival

There aren't that many WorldTour opportunities for pure sprinters. Of course, there's Milan-Sanremo, but since the dominance of riders like Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel, the fastest men can no longer dream of victory in La Primavera. Then there's the Classic Brugge-De Panne and the ADAC Cyclassics (formerly BEMER Cyclassics), but that's about it for one-day races. So the arrival of the Copenhagen Sprint will be welcomed with open arms by the sprinters.

Cycling fans will no doubt have flashbacks to the 2011 World Cycling Championships, which were also held in the Danish capital. It was the flattest world championship since 2002 when Mario Cipollini won. A mass sprint was therefore expected again, and top favorite Mark Cavendish lived up to his status with a tremendous sprint. The Tour de France has also visited the city before, something Dutch fans will remember fondly.

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This is the first edition of the Copenhagen Sprint, so this weekend will see the first winner crowned!

The race starts in Roskilde, one of Denmark's oldest cities. Those who remember the 2022 Tour de France will know that Fabio Jakobsen won his first and so far only Tour stage here. The peloton then heads northeast to cross Hillerød. The race then continues to Humlebæk, where it touches the north coast of the island of Zealand.

The peloton then makes a U-turn to race back to Hillerød, from where it continues south. There is an intermediate sprint in Ganløse. There was one earlier in Frederiksund, and later, there will be another one in Rødovre, a suburb of Copenhagen.

Before arriving there, the race heads eastward and eventually reaches Ballerup, which has a vibrant cycling history. The city's velodrome was the 2024 World Track Cycling Championships venue. It is also the birthplace of Matti Breschel, former cyclist and current team manager of EF Education-EasyPost.

After the last intermediate sprint, the riders arrive in the capital, where they will complete five laps of a local circuit. In just under 11 kilometers, the riders will have to tackle a challenging course with 17 corners in quick succession. There are not many meters of elevation gain, but Copenhagen's course is constantly up and down. This seems unlikely to be enough to break up the sprinters, but who knows.

Fantastic racing weather in Denmark! The riders will start at around 20 degrees Celsius, and it will remain dry, which is uncommon in that country. In the afternoon, the mercury will rise to around 22 degrees, and a gentle southeasterly wind will blow.

Times:
Start: 11 AM local time (5 AM EDT)
Finish: approximately 3:50 PM local time (09:50 AM EDT)

It will be a fantastic day for the sprinters; so many fast men have turned up at the start in Denmark. And on paper, few of those fast guys are faster than Olav Kooij. If the Dutchman from Visma | Lease a Bike gets to sprint, he will be the man to beat. Representing the Netherlands is national champion Dylan Groenewegen, who wants to continue his good form from the Tour of Slovenia.

Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor) will likely get his chance, although that team also has Rick Pluimers. The Dutch will have to contend with home favorite Mads Pedersen. The powerful rider from Lidl-Trek would love to become the first-ever winner of the Danish WorldTour race. The same goes for his compatriot Tobias Lund Andresen, who will sprint for Picnic PostNL.

But we're not done yet: Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe has Sam Welsford, while Bahrain Victorious is counting on Phil Bauhaus. Cofidis has two strong contenders in Milan Fretin and Stan Aniolkowski, and the same goes for Uno-X with Søren Wærenskjold and Stian Fredheim. Matteo Moschetti will be riding for Q36.5, and TotalEnergies has a fast man in Emilien Jeannière. No Jasper Philipsen at Alpecin-Deceuninck: Simon Dehairs must do the job there.

Arnaud Démare will have to bring back old times at Arkéa-B&B, and Elia Viviani will have to do the same at Lotto. Israel-Premier Tech has Pascal Ackermann, but in the recently signed Jake Stewart, they have someone who beat everyone in the Critérium du Dauphiné. If it's not a sprint, keep an eye on names like Kasper Asgreen, Michael Valgren (Denmark), or Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty).

Top favorite: Olav Kooij (Visma | Lease a Bike)
Outsiders: Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco-AlUla), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain Victorious), Sam Welsford (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5) and Milan Fretin (Cofidis)
Long shots: Elia Viviani (Lotto), Pascal Ackermann, Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech), Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies), Maikel Zijlaard (Tudor), Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL) and Simon Dehairs (Alpecin-Deceuninck)