Cycling is part of Denmark’s culture with nine out of 10 Danes said to own a bike and the Nordic nation is set to hold the Grand Départ of this year's Tour de France.

Denmark is also well stocked with cyclists at the elite level with 24 male riders competing in the International Cycling Union WorldTour - a figure only bettered by Belgium.

But Denmark has registered far less WorldTour wins than Belgium and has produced just one Tour de France winner in its history, although Bjarne Riis’ victory in 1996 has been tainted after he confessed to doping during his career.

Success has also been fleeting for Denmark at the Olympics, with Britain establishing itself as the dominant cycling nation. 

"High performance sport has changed over the decades, so we compete with the big countries like Britain," Jess Jensen told insidethegames.

"If you compare our budgets, British Cycling has eight or 10 times the resources with you, so you have to be smart.

"When you have a budget and know your capacity then you have to invent other ways and join with other people to get ideas and inspiration but also gain from what others have experienced and learned."

The DCU recruited British rider Dan Bingham as a performance engineer in preparation for Tokyo 2020 - a move that helped the team yield success.

Lasse Norman Hansen and Michael Mørkøv claimed men’s madison gold, beating British duo Ethan Hayter and Matthew Walls.

Denmark also performed well in the men’s team pursuit in the Japanese capital, finishing behind Italy to take silver, while Amalie Dideriksen and Julie Leth earned women’s madison silver.

"When you are a small country like we are, we have to look around," said Jess Jensen.

"You have to be smart and say 'What are they going?' and try to combine that with other factors to get in front or be competitive.

"You need the best around you and when you don’t have the finances to hire them yourself you have to look to them to try to gain the coverage and make a deal within this period."

Jess Jensen said he saw big potential within Denmark's youth section with Gustav Wang winning last year’s world junior time trial title.

The Danish official, who is vice president of the European Cycling Union, said he had also used the hosting of the Tour de France to bolster participation levels among youngsters.

An individual time trial measuring 13.2 kilometres in Copenhagen is due to start the Tour de France today, followed by a 202.5km ride from Roskilde to Nyborg incorporating the 18km Great Belt Bridge.

The 182km third stage traverses from Veijl to Sønderborg.

"We see in Denmark, like other places in Europe, that the new generations of children are not biking that much for schools or for leisure activities so we have this challenge to find and encourage children to become bike riders," said Jess Jensen.

"Therefore, two years ago we discussed with the Grand Départ Copenhagen 2022 and the ASO [Amaury Sport Organisation] whether we could use the Tour de France logo.

"So for the past two years we had a kids tour around Denmark and this year around 5,000 kids will attend.

"We can see in cities that cycling is really growing in the juniors.

"We are at the forefront.

"We know that when we come to Monday and the Départ is over, we don’t want to have a headache.

"We will be at the front."