One day after Gerald Ciolek sprinted to second in stage 2, MTN-Qhubeka played an aggressive role in the Tour of Denmark queen stage. Jay Thomson was part of the early break while Ciolek fought hard to stay with the best on the hilly finishing circuit.

After prematurely throwing his hands up 1 lap early yesterday, Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo) made sure of his efforts during the 3rd Tour of Denmark stage today and won the races queen stage. Matti Breschel made it an even better day for Tinkoff-Saxo by winning the sprint for 2nd, Tiesj Benoot (Lotto-Belisol) was 3rd. Boaro also secured the leaders jersey after distancing all other favourites.

Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung had a lot to be pleased about during the stage as well. There were numerous attack in the beginning part of the stage with nearly all the MTN-Qhubeka riders taking a turn to go on the offensive. It was Jay Thomson who was the most persistent and the South African powerhouse eventually made it into the move that stuck. Federico Zurlo (UnitedHealthcare), Scott Ambrose (Novo Nordisk) and Kasper Klostergaard (Riwal Cycling Team) were the 3 riders to join Thomson on the attack.

Riding well together, the quartet looked at one stage as if they might make it to the finish. Their maximum lead of 4’20″ was reduced to just a minute with 16km to go. Ambrose would be dropped by his breakaway companions over the closing circuits while the peloton came under real pressure as they tried to reel in the 3 strong escapees. Eventually Thomson and co. were caught, just 5km’s before the line by a 40 rider group. The Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung riders fought valiantly to the finish but Tinkoff-Saxo were just too strong for everyone on the day.

"It was a solid day to test the legs and to just see where I’m at," Thomson said. "Being in the break also made sure I got in some good hard training before the Vuelta."

"I am happy with today," Director Sportif Jens Zemke said. "Johann [Van Zyl], Jay, Jaco [Venter], Gerald and Ignatas [Konovalovas] were all represented in different moves today. Gerald also rode until his tank was completely empty on the hard finishing circuit. It was a good performance during the stage, it was only 5km’s to long and hard for us."