PREVIEW | Tour of Denmark 2025 stage 1 - Mads Pedersen and Jasper Philipsen main favourites for first victory

From the 12th to the 16th of August the peloton will be in Denmark for the Tour of Denmark - or Danmark Rundt. The race has grown in level over the years and has at this point become one of the month's most important events, always with a star-studded field. We preview stage 1.

Stage 1 of the race will be tacking place in the island of Bornholm. It's an interesting day of racing that will suit the sprinters but not with certainty as a final circuit can provide with some explosive action that could trigger quite a lot.

Only 1500 meters of climbing, but it comes at good timings, action-wise. The start of the day is relatively easy and the finale is quite sketchy and hilly. The riders will tackle a three-lap circuit, each including the ascent to the small Helligpeder ascent which is 700 meters long at 7.4%, with 3.5 kilometers of slight uphill terrain before a straight descent.

The peloton will finish this circuit with 15 kilometers to go, and those final kilometers will be flat into Ronne for what is an expected final sprint. The first stage can be quite tactical and if Lidl-Trek goes onto attack mode it will be very hard for any other team to control it. However taking into consideration that the terrain is not that difficult and that in a bunch sprint Mads Pedersen would likely already be the main favourite, they may instead opt for that option and try to keep the race under control. Soren Waerenskjold, after a strong Tour de France, may be a very big threat however for Lidl-Trek.

*** Mads Pedersen, Jasper Philipsen
** Soren Waerenskjold, Axel Zingle, Mattias Skjelmose
* Tibor del Grosso, Soren Kragh Andersen, Magnus Cort Nielsen, Lukas Kubis, Anders Foldager, Nils Eekhoff

Pick: Mads Pedersen

How: Bunch sprint.