Lars Boom (Astana) got the best possible return to racing after illness forced him to withdraw from the Tour de France when he won today’s first stage of the Tour of Denmark. Part of a 6-rider group that escaped on the finishing circuit, the Dutchman made a late solo attack and held of his chasers by a tiny margin to take the victory and the first leader’s jersey in the race.

 

A few weeks ago, a hugely disappointed Lars Boom was forced to retire from the Tour de France after illness had taken the best out of him. Since then, it has been unclear when he would make his return to racing.

 

Yesterday Astana made a late change to their Tour of Denmark roster by including the strong Dutchman instead of Dmitriy Gruzdev but most expected him to mainly use the race to prepare for later objectives. However, it seems that he is already in a position to go for the overall victory after he won today’s opening stage of the 5-day race.

 

After a frantic start to the start, a six-rider break had dominated the second part of the stage but they were nearly caught when the riders reached the finishing city of Holstebo. Tinkoff-Saxo gathered their troops on the front and after Jay McCarthy had taken a short turn, it was Matti Breschel who went on the attack. The Dane bridged the gap to the leaders but just as the junction was made, Tosh van der Sande brought it all back together for Lotto Soudal with 17km to go.

 

Casper Pedersen (Riwal) from the early break refused to give up and launched an immediate attack before Christopher Juul (Tinkoff-Saxo) took off. He was joined by van der Sande, Lars Bak (Lotto), Marco Marcato (Wanty) and riders from Cult and Riwal but the break was brought back.

 

Bak continued to set the pace, followed by Marcato and Juul. Jakob Fuglsang, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Sean De Bie were also active and it was the latter who led the peloton across the line to start the first lap of three laps the 4km finishing circuit.

 

When the pace briefly went down, Bak took off with Asbjørn Kragh (BlueWater). Those two riders were joined by Lars Boom (Astana), Juul, Marcato and Mads Pedersen (Cult) to form a very strong 6-rider group with 12km to go.

 

At the start of the second lap, the gap had already gone out to 18 seconds and it was MTN-Qhubeka that was forced into chase mode. The team kept the gap at 15 seconds but when they started to blow up, it was Kristian Sbaragli who tried to bridge the gap for South African team. However, he was quickly brought back by an attentive Dennis Vanendert (Lotto Soudal). Meanwhile, Jesper Schultz (Denmark) and Morgan Lamoisson (Europcar) went down in a crash.

 

The peloton slowed down completely until Christian Knees hit the front for Sky with 6km to go. At this point, the gap was still 20 seconds and things were looking promising for the escapees.

 

At the start of the final lap, the gap had gone out to 25 seconds and it was now a single Roompot rider doing all the work. As he didn’t get any help, Lars Petter Nordhaug (Sky) tried to attack but it was mission impossible.

 

With 2km to go, Bak tried to attack on a small climb but he never got a gap. However, their advantage had now gone out to 30 seconds, meaning that there was toom for the game of cat and mouse.

 

Boom launched the next attack and as Bak didn’t get any help in the chase effort, he got a small gap. Finally, Juul came through for a turn and he traded pulls with the Lotto Soudal captain as they entered the final kilometre.

 

Kragh also took turns but an aggressive Boom was extending his advantage. He had plenty of time to celebrate his win, with Bak and Kragh rolling across the line in second and third less than one second later. Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani) won the bunch sprint from the peloton which lost more than 30 seconds.

 

With the win, Boom takes the first leader’s jersey which he will wear in tomorrow’s very long second stage. It is a mainly flat affair that ends with three laps of a small finishing circuit in Aarhus. There’s a climb on the circuit but history shows that it is usually decided in a bunch sprint.

 

 

A flat stage

The 25th edition of the Tour of Denmark kicked off with a 180km stage that brought the riders from Struer to Holstebro. There were three smaller climbs along the way but most of the stage was completely flat. However, a big part of it was held along the North Sea, meaning that the wind could potentially play a role. The stage ended with 3 laps of a flat 4.8km finishing circuit where the sprinters were expected to shine.

 

There was very little wind when the riders gathered for the start but lots of rain was forecasted for the opening ride. However, that didn’t dampen their attacking spirit as the opening part of the stage was furiously fast.

 

A break gets clear

Right from the start, six riders escaped and they were quickly joined by another 2 riders to form an initial 8-rider breakaway. However, the group was already caught after 6km of racing,

 

The first promising break was made up of Gregor Mühlberger (Bora-Argon 18), Brian van Goethem (Roompot), Rolf Broge (Coloquick), Morten Øllegaard (Riwal) and Kasper Asgreen (Denmark) and they had a 30-second advantage at the 10km mark. However, Sky were chasing hard and when the gap was down to 10 seconds, it was Asgreen who launched an attack, trying to win the first KOM sprint. The effort didn’t pay off as it was van Goethem who was first across the line, followed by Asgreen, Broge and Øllegaard

 

A big group gets clear

After the climb, things came back together and so the attacking continued. Matti Breschel (Tinkoff-Saxo) was one of the riders to give it a go but he had no success.

 

After 24km of racing, a big 35-rider group got clear and they quickly got an advantage of 25 seconds. In the peloton, it was Tinkoff-Saxo that was forced on the defensive and had to chase hard. Meanwhile, 3 riders went down in a small crash.

 

Tinkoff-Saxo in chase mode

Tinkoff-Saxo were chasing desperately and at the 28km mark, it was all back together. A 10-rider group with 4 Tinkoff-Saxo riders briefly got clear but they had no luck. Moments later Breschel won the second KOM sprint as he was first across the line followed by Linus Gerdemann (Cult), Marco Marcato (Wanty) and Lars Petter Nordhaug (Sky).

 

After 35km of racing, a big 45-rider group had suddenly gone clear and impressively the entire Tinkoff-Saxo team was part of the move. They had a 35-second advantage but as the peloton was chasing hard, it was down to 25 seconds at the 38km mark when Jonas Aaen (Riwal) had punctured out of the lead group.

 

Tinkoff-Saxo on the offensive

Simone Sterbini (Bardiani) was the first rider to abandon the race after he was involved in a small crash and lots of riders had to deal with mechanicals. Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) was one of the riders who had to work hard to get back at this point of the race.

 

Tinkoff-Saxo were working hard in the front group while Cult had taken responsibility for the chase in the peloton.  The gap went out to more than 40 seconds but at the 46km mark, the Danish team had reduced it to 30 seconds.

 

MTN-Qhubeka assist Tinkoff-Saxo

Michal Kolar (Tinkoff-Saxo) punctured out of the break and moments later it was Andreas Stauff (MTN-Qhubeka( who lost contact due to a mechanical. Meanwhile, the gap constantly hovered around the 30-second mark.

 

Edvald Boasson Hagen had made it into the first group and so MTN-Qhubeka were also contributing to the pace-setting. However, Topsport Vlaanderen weas lending a hand to Cult in the peloton which was just 33 seconds behind at the 62km mark.

 

Back together

Christopher Williams (Novo Nordisk) was dropped from the break at a point when Bora-Argon 18 had started to cooperate with Topsport Vlaanderen. Meanwhile, Cult had disappeared from the front.

 

At the 70km mark, the gap had gone out to 40 seconds and it seemed that the break was riding away. However, in the end it was the peloton that came out on top and after 80km of fast racing, it was all back together.

 

The race calms down

At the 89km mark, Pim Ligthart (Lotto Soudal), Valerio Agnoli (Astana), Kenny De Ketele (Topsport Vlaanderen), Ivar Slik (Roompot), Stefan Djurhus (Almeborg) and Casper Pedersen (Riwal) managed to get clear but they had to work hard to get an advantage. However, as the gap went out to 30 seconds at the 94km mark, the peloton finally slowed down.

 

The escapees worked well together to extend their advantage which had gone out to 2.05 at the 105km mark. Meanwhile, Frederik Zeuner (Denmark) went down in a small crash.

 

Sky and MTN-Qhubeka take control

The gap reached a maximum of 3 minutes before the peloton started to slowly reel them in. When Pedersen beat Ligthart and De Ketele in the first intermediate sprint, it was down to 2.20.

 

In the peloton, Sky and MTN-Qhubeka had taken control and it was Nathan Earle, Sebastian Henao and Nic Dougall who did the early work. With 53km to go, they had brought the gap down to 1.40.

 

KOM points for Ligthart

Tinkoff-Saxo hit the front with 50km to go when Juraj Sagan and Kolar made sure that the team got safely through a technical passage before they left it to Bardiani to lead the chase. However, the Italian team allowed the gap to slowly grow.

 

As the riders hit the third climb, the fight for the KOM points started and it was Slik and Djurhus who launched an attack. Ligthart had everything under control though and he passed them just before the line, with Pedersen rolling across the line in second. Djurhus was third and Slik fourth.

 

Ligthart wins the sprint

In the peloton, Bardiani were again getting assistance from Earle, Kolar, Sagan and Dougall and they had the situation under control when they entered the final 40km, 1.45 behind the leaders. That was the signal for Ligthart.

 

Ligthart rode aggressively in the second intermediate sprint and managed to hold off Pedersen in the battle for the 3 bonus seconds. At this point, the gap was just 1.20 and the escapees soon started to cooperate again.

 

Sagan, Kolar, Earle, Dougall, Theo Bos (MTN-Qhubeka) and a rider from Bardiani had done most of the work but with 20km to go, most of the work was left to Tinkoff-Saxo. Kolar and Sagan took some huge turns and only got a bit of help from Dougall. Their efforts paid off as the gap was only 30 seconds with 20km to go.