Our team leaves Denmark with two stages and a day in the yellow jersey.
One day after taking his maiden Tour de France victory, Fabio Jakobsen was again in the mix, on the final stage that the peloton spent in Denmark, which can easily run for the best Grand Départ in the history of the race.
Only one rider rode away from the off, and the peloton allowed him to open a seven-minute maximum advantage before the sprinters’ teams sent their men at the front of the bunch to bring down the gap. Just like Saturday, Mikkel Honoré did an incredible job, spending countless kilometers chasing the leader and helping the field reduce the gap before bringing back the lone attacker with 50 kilometers to go.
The finale was again chaotic, a crash in the last 10 kilometers splitting the field and leaving only some 70-odd riders in the main bunch. Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl was well represented there and controlled the race until the final corner, where Fabio found himself closed in just as he rounded it out and despite his best efforts couldn’t make up ground and really fight for the win, taking fifth as Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco) took the victory in Sønderborg. Despite this, Fabio remains in contention for the green jersey classification, where only 17 points separate him from the leader ahead of the transfer to France.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
