Away from the spotlight, Enric Mas and Mattias Skjelmose prepare Tour de France in a new race - And Tom Pidcock returns to racing...

The Tour de France begins in two weeks and this week in the world of cycling there has been racing all over Europe, and many riders have taken different paths to prepare for the Grand Boucle. Some of them have chosen the Andorra MoraBanc Classic, where Tom Pidcock makes his return to racing after the Giro d'Italia.

Many of the Tour's stars were present at the Criterium du Dauphiné last week where Tadej Pogacar put in a masterful performance; Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel got shaken up and hungrier to improve ahead of the race; and Florian Lipowitz presented himself as a potential podium finisher in Paris.

This week at the Baloise Belgium Tour we've had sprinters such as Tim Merlier and Jasper Philipsen race close to home to prepare for the Tour as well as none other than Filippo Ganna and even Thibau Nys. In the calendar was also La Route d'Occitanie where the riders got the chance to race in the Pyrenees ahead of the Tour.

Naturally, the Tour de Suisse has been the main headliner of the week, with João Almeida and Kévin Vauquelin set to fight for the overall win today. From sprinters to classics riders and climbers, there was a large variety of important men at the start.

But the list does not end there, as this Sunday the Copenhagen Sprint makes it's debut in the men's peloton and immediately as a World Tour event with plenty strong sprinters at the start. Mads Pedersen, Olav Kooij and Dylan Groenewegen are amongst them. 

Overshadowed by all this, we've got the first edition of the Andorra MoraBanc Classic. The first UCI race in Andorra is fully within the mountains and a climbers classic, and takes place in a small area where over a hundred pro riders live permanently.

Because of this, not only is it being used as Tour de France preparation, but also to obtain necessary racing rhythm and motivation ahead of the Tour and we will have both Enric Mas and Mattias Skjelmose looking to take advantage of the opportunity. Another 'local', Tom Pidcock, will also be at the start as an interesting outsider for the victory, after his mixed Giro d'Italia participation.