Cycling is part of Denmark’s culture, with nine out of 10 Danes said to own a bike, while it is also claimed that bikes outnumber cars by more than five to one in Copenhagen.

Millions of television viewers are now set to witness Denmark host the opening three stages of the Tour de France from Friday (July 1) to Sunday (July 3).

Speaking at the opening of a fan park in Kongens Nytorv in central Copenhagen, Andersen said one of her legacy aims of staging the Grand Départ was to "Copenhagen-ise" cities across the globe.

"We want to inspire the rest of the world because biking is easy, it’s green, it’s healthy and it’s cheap," Andersen told insidethegames.

"The legacy here is how can people look into getting inspired and maybe have even more Danish professional cyclists in the future."

Copenhagen was originally scheduled to stage the Grand Départ in 2020 only to be forced to push it back to 2022 by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Tour de France Grand Départ Copenhagen 2022, the budget for 2020 was set at DKK88 million (£10.2 million/$12.4 million/€11.8 million) before growing to DKK93.7 million (£10.9 million/$13.2 million/€12.6 million) two years later.

Excitement has been building in Copenhagen prior to the staging of the Tour de France, which is also due visit the cities of Roskilde, Nyborg, Vejle and Sønderborg, but some residents fear the event could be a waste of money.

However, Andersen believes that hosting one of the biggest sporting events in the world will bring benefits to Denmark.

"From the very beginning we wanted the world’s greatest cycling race to come her because we think we have a lot to offer when it comes to cycling and be the world’s best cycling city," said Andersen.

"We also need to invite in tourists and other people.

"Danish people love to go and see the Tour de France, so it’s also a big pleasure to send an invite back to get people here.

"I know it is a pain for some people who live in the city but it’s also nice to give something back, something we always are receiving when we go to France."

When asked how much money Copenhagen expected to gain from staging the Grand Départ, Andersen added: "We going to make a big evaluation afterwards where we will look into how many came here and stayed at our hotels and what it meant for business but also what do they say about Copenhagen in the world?

"What is a good experience for people?

"Sometimes these things are very difficult to put in money alone but I think if we have a big yellow party it is worth it."