Deceuninck-QuickStep's Remco Evenpole and time trial world champion Rohan Dennis opened the first day of the virtual race series "Digital Switzerland 5," which kicks off Wednesday.

The virtual version of the Tour de Suisse will feature 16 WorldTour teams, a Swiss national selection, and two professional teams. Three riders from each team will participate each day.

Race 1, which kicks off at 5 p.m. (Swiss EST), is a 26.6 km run up two climbs between Agaan and Leukerbad. Therefore, many climbers are on the start list.

Evenepoel is the main Deceuninck-QuickStep rider, and the Belgian won the Vuelta a San Juan and the Volta ao Algarve earlier this season. Meanwhile, Dennis will lead Ineos' three-man selection. Denis, from Australia, finished fourth in the Tour Down Under and won the team's Alpe du Zift e race. Il Lombardia winner Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) will also race.

Pero Bilbao and Wout Poels form two-thirds of the strong Bahrain McLaren team, young talent Leonard Kemna leads Bora Hansgrohe, NTT Pro Cycling has Ben O'Connor and Luis Maintus, George Bennett, Sepp Kuss, and Robert Gesink form a strong trio in Jumbo Visma.

Others competing in Race 1 include Lawson Craddock (EF Pro Cycling), Simon Geschke (CCC Team), Matthias Frank (AG2R La Mondiale), and Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb).

Click here to learn how to watch the race via ExpressVPN (opens in new tab). Check below for the full start list for Race 1.

AG2R La Mondiale: Matthias Frank, Nance Peters, Aurelien Pare-Pantre

Bahrain McLaren: Pero Bilbao, Wout Poels, Santiago Buitrago

Beulah Hansgrohe: Matteo Fabro, Leonard Kemna, Ide Schelling

CCC Team: Simon Geschke, Michael Scheer, Attila Walther

Dečuninck-Quickstep: Remco Evenpole, Pieter Serry, Dries Devenins

EF Pro Cycling Simon Clark, Lawson Craddock, James Whelan

Groupama-FDJ: Kilian Franchini, Rudy Morar, Sebastian Reichenbach

Israel Start-Up Nation: Matteo Badilatti, Reto Hollenstein, Alexis Renard

Jumbo Visma: George Bennett, Roberto Gesink, Sepp Kuss

Lotto Soudal: Sander Arme, Harm Van Hoek, Victor Versheve

Mitchelton Scott: Edoardo Affini, Luke Durbridge, Damian Howson

Movistar Team Imanol Erbiti, Sergio Samitier, Carlos Verona

NTT Pro Cycling Ben O'Connor, Gino Mader, Luis Mainz

Rally Cycling Nathan Brown, Gavin Mannion, Nicolas Zukofsky

Swiss National Team: Filippo Colombo, Robin Freudevaux, Fabian Lienhard

Team Ineos: Rohan Dennis, Carlos Rodriguez, Cameron Wolf

Team Sunweb: Chris Hamilton, Nicolas Roche, Wilco Kelderman

Total Direct Energie: Lilian Calmejane, Paul Urcelain, Simon Cellier

Trek Segafredo Gianluca Brambilla, Bauke Mollema, Antonio Nibali [51