In the first stage of the Post Danmark Rundt, the riders rode from Struer to Holstebro over 177.9 kilometres in bad weather conditions.

The speed was very high but a big group of about 40 riders with among others Sean De Bie, Tosh Van der Sande, Pim Ligthart and Frederik Frison could get away. They didn’t get much advantage though and they were caught by the peloton after a few kilometres.

Almost immediately after that, a new break was formed with Pim Ligthart. This break obtained more space from the peloton and they were caught 20 kilometres before the finish.

When the riders entered the three local laps, Lars Bak attacked and five other riders followed him, among them Boom and Juul-Jensen. With 1.5 kilometres to go, Boom attacked and he won the stage. He’s also the first leader in this Tour of Denmark. Lars Bak sprinted to a second place and is second in the GC at 6 seconds of Boom.

“The tactic of the team was to ride fast and aggressively, the whole day long," Bak said. "Pim Ligthart was in the breakaway and we thought that they would make it till the end. Eventually they were caught by the peloton because of the hard work of MTN-Qhubeka among others.

"After the leaders were caught, the whole team did a very good job to set a high pace. It was important to enter the local laps in first position and that was the moment when I attacked. Five riders joined me and we were riding hard. I tried to get away two times but it wasn’t easy to obtain a gap.

"When Lars Boom attacked, the other riders in the front group were looking at me to close the gap. I tried it but Lars was really strong. At the end, I managed to get away from the others and so I finished second.

“Tomorrow is going to be a long and hard day, we have to ride a sort of Classic. I’m certainly going to attack several times the next few days. My big dream is to win this Post Danmark Rundt of course, especially because it’s the first time that this race is broadcast live on television. I’m really motivated and I will do my very best to obtain the overall victory. A stage win would be nice too, but we’ll have to see how this stage race will evolve.”