Breschel repeats in Danish queen stage

Matti Breschel (Tinkoff-Saxo) won the Tour of Denmark queen stage for the fourth time in his career when he came out on top from a six-rider group that had gone clear on the steep Kiddevej climb in the finale. The Dane attacked on the slightly uphill finishing straight and maintained a small advantage before Rasmus Guldhammer (Cult) beat Alexander Kamp (Coloquick) in the sprint for second. Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal) was part of the group and took over the leader’s jersey.

 

Matti Breschel has won lots of races during his career but one race has a special flavor for the former Danish champion. No rider has won more stages than him in the Tour of Denmark and his preferred terrain has always been the queen stage in Vejle which includes the 21% climb of Kiddesvej.

 

Going into today’s edition of the stage, he had already won it three times at he was the overwhelming favourite to repeat that performance. The Tinkoff-Saxo rider didn’t disappoint as he again came away with the goods.

 

Tinkoff-Saxo had made the race hard in the final 50km and had whittled the peloton down to around 30 riders as they approached Kiddesvej for the first time of four passages with 20km to go. At this point, race leader Lars Boom was isolated after pre-race favourites Jakob Fuglsang and Lars Petter Nordhaug had both crashed.

 

A two-rider break was caught just as they turned onto the climb where Breschel accelerated hard. He dropped everybody else and had to slow down to wait for his teammate Christopher Juul. Rasmus Guldhammer (Cult) was the third rider to join them before Marco Marcato (Wanty) and Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal) also made the junction.

 

Breschel continued to set the pace as they approached the finish line for the first time where Juul won the final intermediate sprint ahead of Marcato and Bak. At this point, Boom found himself in a third group that was 25 seconds behind.

 

The second group with Patrick Konrd (Bora), Troels Vinther (Cult), Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) and Alexander Kamp (Coloquick) caught the leaders with 15km to go. Boom found himself in a big group with Sky riders Ben Swift, Sebastian Henao, Christian Knees and Edvald Boasson Hagen (MTN-Qhubeka). However, he didn’t get much help from his companions.

 

The front group worked well together to slowly extend their advantage over the chasers and they rode relatively slowly up Kiddevej for the second time. Here Boom was dropped from the chase group where Sky had now taken complete control.

 

When the front group hit the Kiddesvej they had an advantage of 30 seconds over the chase group and it was Guldhammer who did most of the work on the ascent. When they crossed the finish line to start the final lap of the 5.7km circuit, they had extended the gap to 35 seconds.

 

Just after the passage of the line, Vinther launched the first attack and was followed by Juul. However, Ciolek quickly shut it down.

 

Juul was the next to try but Bak didn’t give him an inch and now the game of cat and mouse had started. As they had finished the descent, Vinther tried again and this time no one responded.

 

The Dane held a small gap until the road started to rise slightly with 2km to go. Here Kamp launched a strong attack and he flew past Vinther who was also dropped from the chase group.

 

Kamp had a small advantage as he hit the Kiddesvej for the final time where Breschel went full gas. He caught the lone leader at the top where Juul and Konrad had been dropped.

 

Breschel swung off and allowed Marcato to set the pace before he attacked again. No one had any response and he held a small advantage all the way to the finish. Guldhammer beat Kamp in the sprint for second.

 

Bak rolled across the line in fourth but as Boom lost lots of time he took over the lead. He will wear yellow in the first stage of tomorrow’s double header where the riders will tackle a short stage in the morning and a time trial in the afternoon. The morning stage is mostly flat but includes an uphill finishing straight that is perfectly suited to a puncheur like Breschel.

 

The queen stage

After two days in flat terrain, it was time for the queen stage in the Tour of Denmark. The riders would cover 185km around the city of Vejle and it was the hardest course ever used for a stage in the Danish race. It was up or down all day, with four categorized climbs, before the riders finished the stage by doing three laps of a hilly 5.7km circuit that included the 21% Kiddesvej climb. The riders would go up the ascent a total of four times and the finish line was located just around 1000m from the top, with no descent and a slight uphill in the finale.

 

Like yesterday it was a beautiful sunny day in Denmark and there was virtually no wind when the riders gathered for the start. All riders who finished yesterday’s stage were present.

 

The break takes off

Like in the previous stages, it took a little while for the early break to be formed but after 9km of racing, five riders managed to get a small gap. Jimmy Engoulvent (Europcar), Jacques Janse van Rensburg (MTN-Qhubeka), Mike Terpstra (Roompot), Patrick Clausen (Trefor) and Martin Grøn (Riwal) took off and they had extended their advantage to 40 seconds at the 11km mark.

 

Christopher Williams (Novo Nordisk) took off in pursuit and he was still 35 seconds behind after 17km of racing. At this point, the peloton was at 3 minutes and was taking it easy.

 

Astana and Bardiani in control

Astana took control of the peloton while the front group decided to wait for Williams who made the junction at the 21km mark. Five kilometres later the gap was 5.40 and this was the signal for Bardiani to start to work with Astana on the front.

 

Astana and Bardiani cooperated well to keep the gap just below the six-minute mark for a long time before the Italians accelerated slightly as they approached the 50km mark. Meanwhile, Emil Ravnsholt (Almeborg) who crashed yesterday, abandoned the race.

 

Clausen wins KOM sprint

When Grøn beat Williams and van Rensburg in the first intermediate sprint, Bardiani had reduced the gap to 4.30 and were still getting some help Astana. However, they left the front after the sprint and when Clausen beat Grøn, Terpstra and Engoulvent in the first KOM sprint, the gap was again 5.30.

 

When the riders got to the feed zone, Astana had reduced the gap to 5.10. The Kazakh team now decided to up the pace and when they entered the final 70km, they had reduced the gap to 3.45.

 

Tinkoff-Saxo accelerate

The gap was kept stable around that mark for several kilometres and this gave the escapees plenty of time to contest the second KOM sprint. Clausen was again the fastest as he held off Grøn and van Rensburg while Engoulvent rolled across the line in fourth. With 60km to go, the gap was still 3.45 and despite the relatively calm atmosphere, a crash brought down a few riders, including Julien Morice (Europcar).

 

With 55km to go, Tinkoff-Saxo decided that it was time to kick into action when they hit the front with Jurag Sagan and Michal Kolar. Nathan Earle also started to work for Sky and as a consequence, the gap came down quickly and the first riders were getting dropped.

 

Fuglsang and Nordhaug go down

With 50km to go, several escapees went off course and this significantly slowed them down as Grøn and Clausen had to wait for their companions. As Chris Sutton (Sky) and Michael Gogl (Tinkoff-Saxo) were also riding full gas in the peloton, they only had an advantage of 1.50 as they were back together.

 

At this point, the drama stated when the Sky duo of Lars Petter Nordhaug and Alex Peters went down alongside Astana rider Maxat Ayazbayev and Jakob Fuglsang. The latter two would get back on their bikes but none of them would rejoin the front group.

 

Tinkoff-Saxo ride hard

Williams was dropped from the breakaway before Clausen beat Grøn, van Rensburg and Terpstra in the third KOM sprint. Engoulvent seemed to be suffering but the veteran Frenchman had something left and so he took off in a solo attack with 45km to go when the gap was only 40 seconds.

 

In the peloton, Tinkoff-Saxo were now in complete control, with Michael Valgren, Michael Mørkøv and Jay McCarthy trading pulls on the front. They had whittled the peloton significantly down when they turned onto the 25% climb of Gl. Kongevej.

 

Boom is dropped

Terpstra accelerated strongly from the chase group and quickly passed Engoulvent to win the KOM sprint. Van Rensburg was second and joined him after the top while the rest of the break was caught by the splintering peloton which was down to less than 30 riders.

 

Surprisingly, Boom was dropped but he made it back when the peloton slowed down after the top. However, he had no teammate at his side.

 

Siutsou attacks

Valgren and McCarthy quickly went back to work and they had brought the gap down to 20 seconds when they entered the final 40km. Gogl also rejoined the group and started to take turns and so the break was caught with 35km to go.

 

With Nordhaug out of the race, Sky had to ride offensively and so Kanstantsin Siutsou went on the attack. He was joined by van Rensburg and McCarthy and those three riders quickly got a small advantage.

 

Siutsou crashes

Lotto Soudal went straight to the front of the small peloton and it was Tosh van der Sande and Sean De Bie who had the task of keeping the front trio under control. For a long time, they kept the gap at around 15-20 seconds.

 

Unfortunately, Siutsou crashed out of the break on a cobbled descent with 33km to go and so only McCarthy and van Rensburg were left. Until now, the Australian had been following wheels but now he started to work with his companion.

 

De Bie and van der Sande kept the gap stable until they accelerated with 20km to go. When they hit the finishing circuit and approached Kiddesvej for the first time, the gap was down to less than 10 seconds.