"I don't know what happened. I crashed - it will be worse tomorrow probably, so when I wake up we'll meet with the Directors and the Team Doctor and make a decision about whether I can race two stages on Friday."

Those were the words of Astana's Jakob Fuglsang after stage three at the Tour of Denmark. Fuglsang and teammate Maxat Ayazbayev crashed with several other riders on a sharp left turn on a narrow road after a high speed descent in the hilly interior of western Denmark.

Ayazbayev escaped with only minor muscle injury, but Fuglsang, who has won the Post Danmark Rundt three times in his career, suffered injuries to his left elbow, right hip and all across his back After the finish Fuglsang received six stitches to close the elbow wound and spent more than an hour with the race doctor and a local paramedic crew to treat and clean his wounds.

"We controlled the race until about 50 km to go, then Tinkoff-Saxo took over and pushed really hard. They have a lot of local guys who know the roads and the race well, while we aren't as familiar with it," Astana press officer Chris Baldwin wrote in a statement.

"At 30 km there was a left turn with the road narrowing afterwards. Several guys went down, incl. Fuglsang and Ayazbayev. Jakob has abrasions on his whole upper body, especially on the back. He had to get stitches for a gash on his arm, and he has a lot of muscular pain because he crashed that hard.

"We'll take it step by step now; get to the hotel in Nyborg first. His legs are fine, but the road rash on the back is a problem. I don't know if he can get a proper massage because of it, and recover fully until tomorrow. I can't say yet if he'll start tomorrow."

Astana Pro Team rider Lars Boom finished 2:30 behind stage winner Matti Breschel of Denmark on a steep and difficult finishing circuit that is the traditional Queen Stage and let go of the yellow leader's jersey he held for the opening stages.

On Friday the peloton races a short sprint stage into the Copenhagen-side of Denmark's peninsula, and then regroups in Helsingør in the late afternoon for an individual time trial along the seacoast near the fictional castle of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.