Simon Kærup, the head of press and communication for the Grand Départ, provided an update on preparations for the start of the second cycling Grand Tour of the year at a briefing in Copenhagen.

"We have 13 Tour Danish cities in total, all of them are ready to go from the July 1," he declared.

"They will all be dressed in yellow."

Denmark had been due to host the Grand Départ last year, but it was moved to Brest in France to avoid a clash with Copenhagen's staging of matches at UEFA Euro 2020.

A 13.2 kilometres individual time trial in the Danish capital is due to start the Tour de France on July 1, followed by the 202.5km ride from Roskilde to Nyborg incorporating the 18km Great Belt Bridge, and the 182km third stage from Vejle to Sønderborg.

Cycling forms part of Danish culture, with a reported nine out of every 10 residents owning a bicycle, and Kærup believes the country is well-suited to staging the start of the Tour de France.

"One of the reasons why this is such a good match is we're one of the world's leading cycling nations, you might say, and therefore it's a profound honour for us to welcome the world's greatest cycling race," he commented.

"It's a very nice match, and it's also the first time ever that it's actually the whole country that's hosting the Tour de France [Grand Départ].

"Normally the Tour de France is hosted by a city or a region, so it's the first time that a Grand Départ encompasses the whole country."

Organisers had vowed to build a "yellow fever" across Denmark in the build-up to the Grand Départ, and Kærup believes excitement is growing.

"All of the three stages will encompass a lot of celebrations and festivities in the five start and finish cities, who are at this point all covered in yellow," he said.

"We've seen examples in all of the cities now, yellow bike lanes, yellow bridges, and yellow windows from start until finish.

"Just a few days ago, we even saw the Great Belt Bridge lighted up in yellow, and that's also trying to create some awareness and hype around this magnificent event.

"So that's going to be really exciting.

"We have all of the start and finish cities ready for the Tour for the first, second and third stage, and certainly also the eight municipalities who are part of the three stages will also be completely covered in yellow."

Details were also provided on a series of events planned in the build-up to the start of the Tour de France, including Saturday's (June 11) Tour de Storebælt offering cyclists the chance to complete the second stage of the Tour de France.

Slovenia's Tadej Pogačar has won the Tour de France in each of the last two years, riding for UAE Team Emirates.

The first Grand Tour of 2022, the Giro d'Italia was won by Australia's and Bora-Hansgrohe's Jai Hindley.