[31.07 23:20] Just as Niki Sörensen predicted after stage two at the Tour of Denmark, another Saxo Bank rider won solo after a late stage attack in the circuits around Veile. Last year’s winner Jakob Fuglsang attacked the reduced field in the second to last lap, holding his advantage to the finish. For his efforts he took over the leader’s jersey from teammate Sörensen. Matti Breschel repeated his feat of the day before by winning the sprint for second place. Saxo Bank now occupies the top three places on the GC with Fuglsang leading Sörensen by seven seconds with Breschel guarding third place. They will have a chance to consolidate their lead further on Saturday when the riders will be challenged with a double stage, including an afternoon time trial.

Sweeter winning solo

“It has really been a phenomenal performance by the team this week,” Directeur Sportif Dan Frost said. “It was a very tough stage today with lots of wind and so our four workers, Anders Lund, Kasper Klostergaard, Frank Hoj, and Alex Rasmussen, had to put in a hard effort all day to keep the race under control.” After the day’s break escaped, Saxo Bank rode tempo to keep them well within reach, but Silence-Lotto tried to throw something different at the race leaders. “Before we got to the circuits, Silence tried to split the peloton,” Frost explained. “It didn’t really work for them, but it did help in bringing back the break for us.” As the whittled-down peloton entered the circuits, race leader Sörensen suffered a mechanical. “Niki had the bad luck to drop a chain on the climb of the first circuit, but Anders Lund helped him back to the peloton,” Frost explained. On the second lap of the circuit, Fuglsang put in a powerful attack which only one Cervelo rider was able to follow. “Jakob attacked with a Cervelo rider, but dropped him with one lap to go, and was able to ride the last lap entirely on his own,” Frost said. Fuglsang’s winning margin was impressive enough to earn him the yellow jersey. The main group only contained 15 to 20 riders, including all four of Saxo Bank’s GC leaders, Fuglsang, Sörensen, Breschel and Lars Bak.

Teamwork at the core of victory

“It has been such an impressive performance from everyone and this is certainly a fine display of solid teamwork,” Frost said. “Jakob is in yellow, but not only that, Matti has the points jersey and we are 1-2-3 on the GC.” With three more stages, including a double-stage road race and time trial on Saturday, no one on Saxo Bank is prepared to count their chickens yet. “The road race in the morning could end in a mass sprint, so we will have to see what we can do there,” Frost explained. “But the time trial will be very important.” With three riders in the top three, Saxo Bank will have multiple options. “Jakob is a very good time triallist, so as long as he doesn’t have any unforeseen mishaps, he should be able to put in a very good time,” Frost predicted. “But I am not prepared to count on anything until after the stage on Sunday. Everything is still possible so we will have to be very alert over these next three stages.” Even if Saxo Bank is not ready to celebrate just yet, they certainly are putting on a fabulous show for the home fans in Denmark.