In the Tour of Denmark Marco Marcato finished in the top ten for the third consecutive day. The Italian came in fifth in the third, and hardest stage, of this five-day stage race. He moved up to a second place in the overall and takes the lead in the points classification.

“It was a hard day today. Tinkoff-Saxo worked hard and they deserve this victory with Matti Breschel. I felt good but not super good. At 300 metres from the line I made a mistake. I went to the front to anticipate but they saw me and closed the gap immediately," Marcato says after the finish.

There went plenty of altitude metres in the stage with start and finish in Vejle. There were two climbs on the local lap of 5,5 kilometres of which the second one in the final kilometre. Marcato was part of a group of eight other riders that escaped from a small peloton of 35 riders also including Wanty-Groupe Gobert teammate Enrico Gasparotto.

In the breakaway of nine riders were two duo's: Breschel and Juul-Jensen for Tinkoff-Saxo and Guldhammer and Vinther for Cult Energy. They gained a lead of 41 seconds: a nice margin for Friday's time trial.

“I am very happy," sports director Steven De Neef says. "You know that if Breschel is part of the breakaway, winning the stage is not easy. If we can start the time trial with the same margins in the overall classification, a top five or even a podium finish is very realistic for Marco."

“The team is very strong and has been by my side in the past days. I want to say thank you to them," Marcato adds.

On Friday morning the peloton faces a short sprinter's stage of 115 kilometres.

"That can be risky and dangerous so we must pay attention," De Neef thinks. "Maybe Marco can grab some bonus seconds there. The time trial is very important for the overall because on Saturday the Tour of Denmark finishes with local laps in the city of Frederiksberg. I don't expect big changes in the overall classification there."

Marcato also already has the 13,6 kilometre long time trial on his mind.

"Normally time trials are my achilles heel but I will give it my all. I believe in it!"