Alexander Kamp is the new Danish champion after an impressive race by the Stölting Service Group team which was in the action from start to finish. He beat Michael Valgren (Tinkoff) in a sprint duel before Lasse Norman soloed to the finish to make it two Stölting riders on the podium.
It was a tremendously intense race in Vordingborg and Stölting Service Group made sure to put Michael Reihs in the early break. Teammate Lasse Norman Hansen joined them midway through the race, and 40 kilometers from the finish he went solo while the break was caught.
In the field, the attacks kept coming and finally Michael Valgren (Tinkoff) and Alexander Kamp (Stölting Service Group) got away and joined Norman Hansen. After the latter had been dropped, Valgren run out of forces in the sprint duel and Kamp could easly cross the line to claim a maiden champion title ahead of the Tinkoff rider and Norman.
The Danish Championships were held in Vordingborg where the riders had to do nine laps of a flat 17.1km circuit and finally four laps of a shortened circuit of 11.9 kilometers for an overall distance of 201.5 km.
The first few laps saw lots of atacks but no one was allowed to go clear. On the third lap, the first serious attack came as last year's year's champion Chris Anker Sørensen (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), Torkil Veyhe (Team WeBike-CK Aarhus), Mark Sehested (Trefor) and Michael Reihs (Stölting Service Group) got away.
The four riders got a lead of almost five minutes before the peloton reacted. It was the Danish continental teams Riwal Platform Cycling Team, Team coloQuick CULT and Team Almeborg-Bornholm that took control.
With 90 kilometers to go, the gap was down to one minute when one of the biggest favorites Mads Pedersen (Stölting Service Group) attacked from the field. He was joined by Kasper Asgreen (Trefor) but the peloton reacted immediately, and the high pace meant the lead came down to just 30 seconds.
That was the signal for Lasse Norman Hansen (Stölting Service Group) to make his move and he was joined by Niklas Larsen (Trefor). The duo joined the four leaders and so there were six riders in the lead.
With 70 kilometers to go, the sextet had increased the lead to one minute and 15 seconds, but Riwal Platform Cycling Team worked hard to reel in the break. However, the effort took its toll and the small team didn't have much left when the stars started to move.
On the last lap of the big circuit, Matti Breschel (Cannondale) tried an attack but Rasmus Guldhammer (Stölting) was quick to react and as he refused to work, the duo were brought back.
With 45 kilometers to go, the riders started the laps of the small circuit and the six leaders had an advantage of 55 seconds.
The attacks continued in the field. A Team Almeborg-Bornholm-rider put some pressure on the peloton and created a group with among others Michael Valgren (Tinkoff) and Mads Würtz Schmidt (Trefor) and riders from Stölting and Team Soigneur. The collaboration was bad though as many riders tried to go solo.
In the front group, Norman Hansen attacked and rode away from his companions. He had seven seconds at the next passage of the finish line with 36 kilometers to go. Reihs, Sehested, Veyhe, Larsen and Sørensen were closest and while Valgren, Guldhammer, Sebastian Lander (ONE Pro Cycling) and Magnus Cort (Orica-GreenEdge) were just 15 seconds behind, with peloton not much further adrift.
Moments later, only Norman remained in front and this opened the door for lots of attacks. Cort, Valgren, Mads Pedersen and several riders from Trefo and Riwal made it into a large group, but they failed to cooperate and so it came back together.
With 27 kilometers to go, Norman had a gap of 40 seconds.
Valgren, Cort, Guldhammer, Kamp, Pedersen, Veyhe, Troels Vinther (Riwal), Rasmus Mygind (Riwal) and Mathias Dam Westergaard (Team Almeborg-Bornholm) finally got clear but out on the penultimate lap, they were still more than 40 seconds behind Norman.
The peloton followed 40 seconds later with John Ebsen (ONE Pro Cycling) riding on the front, and it seemed to be over for them.
Cort tried to get away from the chase group, but Kamp was always there and Valgren was also attentive so he failed to get clear. Valgren was the next to try a solo move but again Kamp followed. The Tinkoff rider continued with the Stölting rider on his wheel, and the pair got a nice gap.
Valgren rode very fast, and at the start of the last lap, he was only 20 seconds behind Norman, who was clearly suffering. 14 riders with Christopher Juul-Jensen in front were one minute behind Norman, while the field with ONE Pro Cycling setting the pace was 40 seconds further back.
Valgren and Kamp caught Norman and Kamp attacked immediately. Valgren was on his wheel so Kamp stopped again, and then Norman came from behind with a counterattack.
Valgren slowly reeled him in, and six kilometers from the finish they were back together. The chase group of 14 riders was just 15 seconds behind with Christopher Juul-Jensen setting the pace.
Three kilometers from the finish Valgren accelerated, and that sent Normanout the back door. Valgren led all the way to the finish line where Kamp opened the sprint and blasted past Valgren who could not match his sprint.
This allowed Alexander Kamp to go to the podium as the new Danish champion, with Michael Valgren and Lasse Norman Hansen completing the podium. Magnus Cort won the sprint for fourth ahead of Mads Pedersen.
It is still unclear when Kamp will wear his new jersey for the first time.
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