From Wednesday 31July until Sunday 4 August the 23rd edition of the Tour of Denmark will take place, it consists of six stages and is part of the Europe Tour.

The first three stages will be ridden on the peninsula Jutland, the other three on the island Zealand. The third stage is covered with several hills, so it will be important for the GC, just like the time trial on Saturday. There are two stages programmed that day. In the morning there is a stage of 105 km and in the evening there is an individual time trial of 12.1 km. The first rider will start at six o’clock.

For Lotto-Belisol local hero Lars Bak and sprinter Kenny Dehaes, among others, stand at the start. Despite suffering from fatigue in the wake of the Tour de France, Lars Bak feels ready for the race on his home soil.

“Of course I was tired after the Tour, but the past week I did ride three criteriums in Denmark of which I won one,” Lars Bak said. “Apart from the criteriums, which were hard races, I also did some training in the morning to keep up my form. You have to keep the shape going. I have a good feeling and I’m really looking forward to my home country race. The shape is definitely there, it’s now all about getting the mind into ‘suffering’ again. I’m really motivated to perform well in the Tour of Denmark. Apart from the nationals there aren’t that many opportunities to race here. When you come with a Belgian team and you are the only Danish rider in it that is something special. This year even more because the race starts in Silkeborg where I’m from, so there’s going to be a lot of home crowd. Especially now, it’s only a week after the Tour, the Danish people are crazy about it. The Tour of Denmark is the biggest sports event in our country.”

Bak acknowledges that the Tour of Denmark fields a strong and competitive peloton this year. Nonetheless he aims for a top five spot in the GC, which he hopes to achieve through a top performance in the time trial even though it’s a bit on the short side as far as the Danish rider is concerned.

“It’s a strong peloton. My ambition is to get as far in the GC as possible. Three times I’ve been top ten in this race and I’d like to go for top five this year. The best thing would be to win a stage, but it’s manly a race for sprinters, so it’s good that we have Kenny Dehaes with us. He’s in a good shape. There can always be crosswinds, so you have to be alert all the time. You have to ride a really good time trial to end up high in GC, as was the case last year with Lieuwe Westra who also won the overall. The time trial is only 12.1 kilometres, normally I prefer longer ones, but in the morning there’s a stage of 105 kilometres. With the shape from the Tour, I hope to do a really good time trial. I set a good result in the first time trial of the Tour.”

Lotto Belisol line-up for Tour of Denmark:

Lars Bak, Brian Bulgaç, Sander Cordeel, Jens Debusschere, Kenny Dehaes, Olivier Kaisen, Maarten Neyens and Fréderique Robert.