Jakob Fuglsang and Saxo Bank defend lead, win Tour of Denmark

[02.08 20:23] Coming into the final stage of the Tour of Denmark with a narrow three second lead, Saxo Bank knew it had to stay alert all day and not allow the second placed rider a chance to gain any bonus seconds. The tactics of the day unfolded in favour of the race leader when a four man group slipped away effectively eating up all the bonus seconds strewn out on the road. In the final, the foursome was reeled in by the peloton as the day came down to a bunch sprint. Matti Breschel took second in the sprint while Fuglsang was able to maintain his three second advantage and win the Tour of Denmark for the second year in a row.

The day suited us

“It went okay since a four man break got away and took all the time bonuses on the course,” Directeur Sportif Dan Frost said. “That suited us just fine, and then the rest of the peloton keen for a sprint finish reeled them in at the end.” Since Saxo Bank led the race from start to finish, the team has been under constant pressure not only to control the race, but to dominate it. “I feel absolutely great after this victory for the team,” Frank Hoj beamed. “From the beginning this race has been a bit of a strange situation since we had the lead in the first three days with three different riders, so for most of the stages we had four protected riders.” Since the team today had only three seconds to play with, they had to keep a very close eye on second placed Biondo. “The guys did a great job since the gap to second was so little we were never certain what the other team was going to try,” Hoj said. “We had to make sure that Biondo didn’t get away in the stage and most importantly, didn’t get any time bonus in the final sprint.” Having succeeded in both tasks, Saxo Bank can leave their home stage race very well satisfied. “Of course we are tired,” Hoj said. “But it is a different sort of tired when you can also go home with a victory like this.”

Team victory

With half the team riding more or less protected for the first four stages of the tour meant that the other four had to do the work of seven. “It put us under a little bit of pressure since in the early part of the stages Alex Rasmussen and I would have to do a lot of the work to save Kasper and Anders so that they could really be rested to work hard in the last part of the stage,” Hoj explained. “But I have the age and experience to help the team do this, and it is always such a pleasure especially when everything works out perfectly like today.” Since the stage five time trial effectively shook out the classification, Saxo Bank came into the final stage knowing that they were riding for one person. “Today was probably the easiest because we had more riders to help,” Hoj said. “We are very happy because we came into this race well prepared and we were able to accomplish everything we wanted.” With three stage wins, the overall victory and Matti Breschel’s points jersey, Saxo Bank emphatically proved once again that it is one of the strongest teams in the world.