PREVIEW | Copenhagen Sprint 2025 - Many of the world's best sprinters go head to head on pre-Tour de France battle

On the 22nd of June we will have the newest addition to the World Tour calendar: The Copenhagen Sprint. The race, taking place in Denmark, provides the sprinters with one of the few opportunities to conquer a one-day race at the highest level in the sport. We preview the race ahead.

The race will be 235 kilometers long and will not be featuring any meaningful climbs. It's a sprinter's dream, in a calendar that is overfilled with hilly or mountainous races; and in which more and more races become more difficult.

Starting in Roskilde, the riders will be riding around the area of Copenhagen in various directions before properly entering the city where they will face a five-lap circuit. This one will be rather short with only 10.5 kilometers in length, and where the circuit will be rather technical, ending right in the heart of the Danish capital.

Some strong southeastern wind means that we will definitely have a very tense race where splits in the peloton can happen in many locations and really make life hard for many. In the final circuit things should be rather blocked, but we may still have a bit of a headwind sprint which could complicate the timing for those fighting for victory in the final sprint.

It is a race for the pure sprinters and that is undisputed. Despite the clash with the Belgium Tour and Tour de Suisse, there is still a very hefty lineup of sprinters present at the startline who will be fighting for the win. I will rate the leadouts present by their quality:

Dylan Groenewegen - Luka Mezgec - Elmar Reinders

Jordi Meeus - Nico Denz - Ryan Mullen

Olav Kooij - Dan McLay - Niklas Behrens

Mads Pedersen - Mathias Vacek - Daan Hoole

Matteo Moschetti - Giacomo NIzzolo - Emils Liepins - Jannik Steimle

Soren Waerenskjold - Erlend Blikra

Phil Bauhaus - Matevz Govekar - Alberto Bruttomesso

Milan Fretin/Stanislaw Aniolkowski - Alexis Renard

Tobias Lund Andresen - Bram Welten

Arnaud Démare - Luca Mozzato - Florian Sénéchal

Elia Viviani - Cedric Beullens - Jarrad Drizners

Outside of the main leadouts you still have men like Maikel Zijlaard, Itamar Einhorn, Iuri Leitão, Jensen Plowright, Giovanni Lonardi and Lorrenzo Manzin as men who can feature inside the Top10 and take advantage of the leadout chaos to thrive on their own.

This will be a sprint in which you cannot rely too much on your leadout because there will simply be too many riders and if you drift back too much you can be blocked very easily.

*** Jordi Meeus, Olav Kooij, Dylan Groenewegen
** Mads Pedersen, Milan Fretin
* Matteo Moschetti, Soren Waerenskjold, Phil Bauhaus, Stanislaw Aniolkowski, Elia Viviani, Arnaud Démare, Tobias Lund Andresen, Maikel Zijlaard, Jensen Plowright, Giovanni Lonardi

Pick: Jordi Meeus

How: Regular bunch sprint.