While an overseas opening to a Grand Tour isn’t a novel concept – there have been 20 starts abroad in the last decade alone – you’d be forgiven for thinking that this year, it’s been a constant.
And you’d be correct – each of the three Grand Tours has started outside its home country this year, and despite the prevalence of the phenomenon in the past, 2022 is actually the first time all three have started overseas in the same year.
While the concurrence in itself is partly down to Covid-19, it’s also partly because of coronavirus that the explosion of colour, noise and positive energy across the streets of Hungary, Denmark and the Netherlands has felt particularly joyous. By contrast with the protocols and restrictions of the two years prior – both on the peloton and the fans – the return of fans to the roadsides has felt like a real celebration – one that has been shared in double the number of nations.
Read more: Brits abroad: Who are the British riders in the 2022 Vuelta a España?
However, amid the happy clapping, and the proclamations over the increased profile of the sport, and the legacy of the overseas departures, legitimate questions must be asked: are the benefits – perceived or actual – enough to mitigate the added stress and significant impact on the environment that these foreign starts represent?
Let’s remind ourselves of the three excursions of 2022.
From Budapest to Breda
The glorious shower of pink ushered in by the first Grand Tour of the year, the Giro d’Italia, struck a poignant contrast with the right-wing views of the dominant political force in Hungary, the first Eastern European country ever to host stages of La Corsa Rosa. Political unrest notwithstanding, fans both local to the race and from further afield congregated on the streets of Budapest for the opening stages of the Giro, and the result was a joyous array of colour and enthusiasm.
The parcours offered enough variety to deliver an entertaining three days, featuring a punchy finish up to the castle in Visegrád, an intriguing time trial around the streets of Budapest, and a sprint finish on the shores of Lake Balaton. It showcased the stunning highlights of a country unfamiliar to many, and as a non-traditional cycling nation, raised the profile of the sport in the country.
Yet it wasn’t popular with everyone, with some of the riders grumbling over the distance they had to travel – over 1100km to Sicily, the longest journey…