CYCLING – TEAM Bahrain Victorious are set to take part today in the inaugural edition of the Copenhagen Sprint, which is the latest addition to the 2025 UCI WorldTour calendar.
Outside stage races, there are few opportunities for the fast men on the worldwide series, so it is a welcome inclusion to the previously 35-event programme, becoming the 21st one-day WorldTour race.
As the title suggests, the route from Roskilde to the Danish capital is very flat, and contains no significant climbs. However, that is not to say it will be easy for the 163 riders who take to the start. At 235.6 kilometres, the distance is almost ‘monumental’, in both literal and cycling terms.
Bahrain Victorious go to Denmark with a line-up focussed around one single aim: supporting our leader and sprinter Phil Bauhaus, says sports director Borut Bozic. “Obviously the team will try to give Phil the best possible position for the sprint,” said Bozic. “It’s a new WorldTour race in the calendar and suits the sprinters, so for sure there will be many of the top ones there. But we have a good team, and we will go all in for Phil.
“He showed in Slovenia that he’s in good shape and has good speed so we will support him in the best way we can.”
The job of protecting and positioning the 30 year old German will fall to his six teammates, all of whom are well-equipped for the task.
Zak Erzen is the youngest at just 19, but he has already taken two victories this season with the Bahrain Victorious Development Team.
Italian Alberto Bruttomesso and Belgian Vlad Van Mechelen are both 21, and both promising sprinters themselves, while 23-year-old Briton Oliver Stockwell will compete in his first race at this level.
Matevz Govekar comes on the back of some strong performances at last month’s Giro d’Italia, and has four wins to his name since turning pro. Robert Stannard will be by Bauhaus’s side when the road does go uphill, and is also the last lead-out man in the long straight finale. The selection is a mix of specialisms, and a blend of experience and promise.
The parcours starts by heading northwest from Roskilde, almost as far as the North Sea coast at Helsinger. The peloton then return south until they reach Copenhagen itself, where they will complete five laps of a technical 10.5km city-centre circuit. In every section, they will be tested by road furniture and constant switching between wide and narrow roads, making positioning crucial throughout.
Today presents the final chance for sprinters to stretch their legs before the Tour de France, and the new race has attracted a strong start list, but Bahrain Victorious’ leader is enthusiastic to take part, and optimistic about the team’s chances.
“Obviously, I am looking forward to this race,” said Bauhaus. “It’s pretty much flat so for me as a sprinter I like races like Sunday. We have a young team and it’s my first race with Matevz this year, so I hope that we have a good connection and together with him and Vlad that we can do a good job in the last kilometres.
“Hopefully I can aim for a really good result. It would be really great to finish on the podium, but obviously the contenders will be good so it will be difficult.
“It’s close to the Tour de France so my condition should be good and even if there is a bit of wind we also have a good team for that.
“I’m excited about this new race and I will try my best, aiming for the podium, or even – in the best case scenario – even better than the podium...like the win!”
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