Starting the stage in defense of the race lead, Daniele Bennati nearly pulled off the double on today’s second stage of the race as first Michael Valgren tried his luck in the final kilometre, before Daniele was just edged into third in a thrilling sprint finish. With Michael caught in the final few hundred metres, Daniele appeared in the leader’s jersey in an elbow to elbow sprint to the line, being passed just before the finish.
The sprint unfolded after a furious and frantic finish on the day’s finish circuits, on a day where the race speeds were high and crashes were plenty. All of the Tinkoff guys made it through to the finish to continue pushing hard for stage results and the overall classification.
After the stage, Sport Director Lars Michaelsen gave a bit more insight into the race. “Our strategy today was to let a break to go up the road and control behind, but it took a while before the right break went. Pavel Brutt did another good job of controlling behind before the teams who wanted to fight for the stage took over. From there we stayed at the front and out of trouble.”
After a flurry of early attacks, a break of three eventually established itself at the front of the race, none of which were threat’s to the overall GC. Having built a lead of over four minutes, their advantage was pegged back gradually as the 180km stage ticked by.
The stage went according to plan for Tinkoff until the feedzone where Nikolay Trusov crashed. After a bike change and a fight to get back on he made it through the rest of the stage without any problems.
After the first two hours, the average speed was nearly 48km/h, with the breakaway pushing hard, but heading into the final 30km their advantage was down to just over one minute. A large crash in the peloton with around 25km to race disturbed the chase slightly – all Tinkoff jerseys were up the from and out of trouble – but with 15km to go the race was all back together.
One rider made a big solo push in the final kilometres before Michael Valgren jumped clear behind to give chase. Catching and passing the rider, Michael looked like he might hold on but he was eventually caught and passed as the line approach before the sprint unfolded.
Conserving his race lead, Daniele Bennati said after the stage: “It was a very tough and fast-paced stage and I performed better than I had expected. My goal was to keep the leader’s jersey and thanks to today’s third place, I achieved it. I’d like to thank my teammates for the excellent work they did in controlling the race. I’m sure they finished the stage exhausted but they deserve the credit.
“Tomorrow, I’ll also try to hold on to the overall but I’m not sure about my form. It’s only the second race after my hard crash at the Milano-Sanremo, so I have to approach the Tour of Denmark day-by-day.”
“We can again be happy with today’s performance, with Benna up there and Michael again looking strong, and overall we’re still in a good position, continued Michaelsen. “Nikolay came down but otherwise we managed to avoid the crashes which was good.
“Tomorrow is the queen stage – we have the leader’s jersey and have to continue to take responsibility. But we have a good plan for tomorrow and the guys are riding well so we’re ready.”
Heading north, and skirting the coastline, tomorrow’s stage features the same finish as last season, which saw Tinkoff place three riders in the top ten. With two difficult climbs on the finishing circuit, one with ramps of up to 21%, the fight for the stage should unfold in this exciting finale.
Stage Result
1. Magnus Cort (DEN) Team Postnord Danmark 4:52:26
2. Moreno Holland (NED) Team LottoNL – Jumbo +00:00:00
3. Daniele Bennati (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:00
4. Amaury Capiot (BEL) Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise +00:00:02
5. Laurens De Vreese (BEL) Astana +00:00:02
12. Michael Valgren (DEN) Tinkoff +00:00:02
17. Michael Gogl (AUT) Tinkoff +00:00:02
26. Nikolay Trusov (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:02
29. Manuele Boaro (ITA) Tinkoff +00:00:02
39. Pavel Brutt (RUS) Tinkoff +00:00:02
65. Erik Baška (SVK) Tinkoff +00:02:05
78. Michael Kolar (SVK) Tinkoff +00:13:20
