The wait is almost over. The riders are taking in the sights of Copenhagen; all Covid tests have been taken and eleventh-hour substitutes drafted in; Quick-Step have finished toying with fans over their lamentable will-they-won’t-they selection of Mark Cavendish (they won’t); at least seven teams have released new or limited edition Tour kits; even EF Education-EasyPost have awoken from their dreams of dragons and deigned to make their cutesy eight-man squad selection known a few seconds before the deadline… Some 3,328km of rampant riding over the roads of Denmark, France, Belgium and Switzerland now lie in store, along with 20km of cobbles, 18km of exposed sea bridge, over 53km of time trialling, 61 categorised climbs and no fewer than six mountaintop finishes.