The opening week of the Tour de France is ‘as close to gladiatorship as it gets’, says Jens Voigt

Jens Voigt says the first week of the Tour de France is comparable to “gladiatorship” and that it is “one step away from a matter of life and death”.

The second and third stages in Denmark and the following two day sections in northern France are vulnerable to strong crosswinds which adds to the risk that will already arise from venturing down narrow cobbled streets.

Two-time yellow jersey wearer Voigt is predicting chaos and that many in the field will fall early on.

“It’s super exciting and exciting for the spectators, but this first week of the Tour de France is as close to gladiatorship as it gets,” the multiple Tour stage winner told Eurosport.

“We’re just one step away from the arena being a real matter of life and death.

“The first week will be extremely important and stressful. Everyone knows that and accordingly all riders always want to be up front at that one important corner – but that’s not possible, there’s only room for 20 riders.

“That’s why I expect the first Tour week will also be marked by many falls.”

Voigt also believes the final 20km of the second will also cause plenty of problems for the riders and could end some riders’ campaigns altogether.

He explained: “Almost exactly 20 kilometres from the finish line, we cross the bridge over the Great Belt – dead straight out onto the open water for 18 kilometres.

“The windbreak wall on the bridge is only about 1.5 meters high, so it doesn’t protect the drivers completely.

“The drivers come back to the mainland slightly downhill at probably 75 km/h, there is a 90-degree bend waiting for a slightly narrower road, which will also be exciting.

“Then there are still three kilometres to the destination. It will be so dramatic that I’m afraid that several favourites for the general classification could unfortunately already lose their chances on the podium on this day and there will probably be a number of falls with broken bones.”

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