The Tour de France leaves Denmark via two-hour flights and 900km drives

There may have been no racing at the Tour de France on Monday, though it wasn't a usual Grand Tour rest day with riders, staff, and organisers facing the longest transfer in the race's history as the race moved from Denmark down south through Germany, and Belgium to northern France.

The riders had it relatively easy, with each team filling out six chartered flights to Lille and Calais on Sunday evening after stage 3. While the majority of teams took the flights put on by race organisers ASO, Israel-Premier Tech had the luxury of a private jet.

"It's quite easy," AG2R Citroën rider Oliver Naesen told Het Nieuwsblad. "After the stage you take a shower, get picked up by a bus and taken to the plane and watch a film on the flight.

"The only thing you need with you is your passport and your helmet and shoes so you can train the next day. I thought we would fly on Monday but we're already there on Sunday evening. As far as I'm concerned, we could have raced on Monday – this is a free rest day."

The trip wasn't without problems, though, as one of the three planes transporting the riders broke down before departure. Those affected were quickly sorted on to three smaller planes – taking the places of members of the organisation.

Three staff members on each team accompanied the riders on the chartered trip, while teams also had to plan ahead to ensure riders had a chef and – in the case of DSM – bikes on Monday. The remainder of the team's directeurs sportifs, soigneurs, mechanics, and press officers were forced to take the long way around.

Back in the 1998 Tour, the flight from the Grand Départ in Ireland over to Brittany came in at around 300km, some 100km shorter as the crow flies than Sunday's flights. In 1998, the team equipment and race caravan was transported by overnight ferry from Cork to Roscoff. This time, the bulk of the teams – and their equipment – took on a road trip measuring in at over 900km.

Those driving the team buses, cars, and vans faced 10 hours or more at the wheel before reaching France, though race organisers ASO did lay on hotels in Bremen, Germany for Sunday night.

"We've been working on this for months," AG2R manager Vincent Lavenu told L'Equipe. "It's not ideal, but we're getting used to it. We know how to deal with it."

Finally, five hours after the riders' flight left for France, the Tour's journalists made an ASO-arranged direct chartered flight, though departing at midnight and arriving in Lille two hours later.

Following the big move, teams were able to get training rides in on Monday, though some later than others. Team DSM were even able to get in a recon of Wednesday's cobbled stage.

"They will be less tired after the first week of racing," Tour technical director Thierry Gouvenou said. "The regulations oblige us – because of the distance from the Grand Départ – to add the extra rest day. The riders will therefore have a little respite after three rather nervous days.

"Now they can rest and start again with a six-day cycle. They'll be less tired when they arrive in the mountains."