You are listening to Kilometre Zero by the Cycling Podcast, Power by Super Sapiens, Energy Management for Community That Leads and Coaches.

This is not my first time in Copenhagen, but nevertheless, when I arrived, I was still taken aback by just what a Cycle-centric city this is.

The bike really is king. They're absolutely everywhere, thousands of them.

And it's bikes of all different types, some with baskets, some with trailers, straight handlebars,

dropped handlebars, fixed wheels, and the riders are young, old and everyone in between.

It really is the most egalitarian mode of transport.

And because there's so many of them, the cyclists command the respect of other road users in a way that perhaps they don't in other cities.

Bikes buzz along the streets, they're stacked at bike racks everywhere, and outside the central station, they're 5'6' or 7' deep.

This weekend though, high-spec top-end carbon fibre timetrile bikes will take over the Soutoude-France kicks off with a long-awaited opening timetrile in the Danish capital.

It was supposed to be held here a couple of years ago, but Covid put paid to that, and then there was a further delay because of a clash with the Euro 2020 football tournament, which has also been delayed by Covid.

Now though, the city is ready, and the timing couldn't be more appropriate, as Danish cycling surfed away the success.

There are 10 Danes on the start list for this year's tour.

Among them are three time under 23 World Time Trial Champion, a winner of the Tour of Flanders, arguably the best lead-out man in the world, a former World Champion, the winner of Leage, Master of Leage and Ill-Lomberdia, and last year's tour runner-up, Jonas Vingegor.

There's also someone who climbed Kilimanjaro, albeit not on a bike. That's Magnus Court, by the way.

This episode is called Danish Dynamite. I've unashamedly borrowed the title of a very fine book about the Danish football team that stormed the world in the 1980s, and I hope the author's Lars Erickson might give him and Rob Smith don't mind.

Actually, this is a two-part, charting the rise, fall, and rebirth of Danish cycling.

The second part will be released after the tour's circus has packed up and returned to France after the weekend. Denmark were relatively late arrivals on the Tour de France stage.

In 1958, four Danish riders formed part of an international team, along with Cheyeli at a violin and Stan Britton of Well-Briton.

Of the four, Hans Anderson was the only rider to finish in a 60-second position.

There are a handful of riders in the 1960s and early 70s who left a bit of a footprint on the Tour de France.

Ollé Ritter rode the Dura d'Italia more times because he rode for an Italian team, and his best finished air was seventh, and he also won three stages.

He only actually rode the Tour de France once towards the end of his career in 1975, but he did hold the World Hour record from 1968 to 1972 when Eddie Merck broke it.

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