Modolo wins morning stage

Image 1 of 10

Sacha Modolo (Colnago-CSF Inox) took his second sprint victory at the Tour of Denmark on Saturday morning, winning the surge to the line in Frederikvaer ahead Jure Kocjan (Team Type 1-Sanofi) and Daniele Bennati (Team Leopard Trek).

The 24 year-old Italian is hoping for a place in the Italian team for the world championships in Copenhagen in September and confirmed his sprinter’s credentials on the rising finish after some hard work by his teammates.

“We worked hard for this win,” Colnago-CSF Inox directeur sportif Roberto Reverberi explained in a press release. “We worked all the way, chasing the break, including the last one at five kilometres to go. Bennati went really hard in the sprint but Modolo got on his wheel and he passed him with fifty metres to go.”

The 111km stage started early, at 10:00am, and the short distance and strong winds quickly inspired some serious attacks. After 12 km Jens Erik Madsen (Team Concordia Insurance-Himmerland) and Kristian Sobota (Christina Watches-Onfone) jumped away and they were soon joined by Martin Mortensen (Leopard Trek), Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) and Daniel Fodder (Glud & Marstrand - Consult Consulting).

Fodder and then Sobota lost contact on the later climbs but thanks to some strong work by Mortensen, the break still had a lead of a minute with 20km to go. Team Sky and Colnago-CSF-Inox shared the work to defend Simon Gerrans’ overall lead and set up Modolo and lead the charge after Hecke and Mortensen, who remained out front.

Mortensen tried a solo move with three kilometres to go and almost stayed away but he cruelly swept up by the pack, with three hundred metres to go, as the road kicked up to the finish. It was a tough sprint finish but Modolo had the strength, positioning and speed to win his second stage in this year’s race. Gerrans finished in the pack and so kept his overall lead before the 13.2km time trial stage in the afternoon.

However a two-second time bonus for third place means that Bennati is now just six seconds behind Gerrans in the overall classification. Matti Breschel (Rabobank) is in second place, four seconds behind Gerrans, setting up a very close race against the clock.