Juul-Jensen claims yellow jersey for Denmark

The final stage of the Coupe des Nations – Ville de Saguenay was won by Frenchman Arnaud Demare who will walk away from the event with two race wins. It was the Danish team howeverwhich stole the show, defending the yellow jersey held by Christopher Juul-Jensen.

"It is 110 per cent my teammates' race today. It is an honour to be part of such a great team," modestly declared Juul-Jensen. "The threat was coming from behind and not from the breakaway. So we had to keep a lot of pressure in the climb" he explained when interrogated on the Danish formation's strategy.

This performance arrives just in time for the athlete who will turn 23 next year.

"It is my last year in the U23 category. My dream is now to sign with a pro team. This result comes at perfect time, because I was able to prove that I can win a race against some of the best riders," concluded the cyclist who comes from mountain bike.

A quarter of the way into the 128.4 kilometre race, two Russians left the bunch. A chase of two organized itself behind and rapidly made the junction with the leading men. Lap after lap, the escapees increased the gap separating them from the main group, until a bad collaboration within the fugitive quartet cost it many seconds. Seeing the gap considerably decreasing, the breakaway members stopped to attack each other and started cooperating again.

With only one loop to complete, the pace significantly increased while the Danes imposed a sustained rhythm in the last ascension of the Bégin climb.

Demare was the first to cross the finish line, just in front of Germans Yannick Mayer and Marcel Meisen, respectively second and third.

Kazakh Arman Kamyshev and Italian Nicola Boem were both able to keep their respective jersey of best youngster (white) and best sprinter (green). Russian Roman Katyrin, one of the members of the day's main breakaway, claimed the polka dot jersey.

In the nations' ranking, France still leads after five of the six events.