Danish team left disappointed and lucky in London

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It was a race of mixed emotions for the Danish men’s team at the completion of the 250km Olympic road race. Jakob Fuglsang was part of the 26-rider front group who raced for the medals while Matti Breschel was back in the peloton, nursing a finger which was lucky to remain attached to his hand.

“I am afraid that it will be sewn,” he told Sporten.dk. “It does not look good, the finger. Right now the doctor will take a look at it and we must take him to the hospital in the city to get it checked,” said Danish coach Lars Bonde.

Breschel crashed in the early part of the race and did serious damage to the tip of his middle finger on his right hand. He was able to remount and rejoin the peloton but his injury essentially doomed him to remain in the stranglehold of the Great Britain-led peloton, sprinting to the line 40 seconds behind the race winner to finish in 41st place.

It could have been a different result for Fuglsang and his four-man Danish team if the front group had been more selective. Fuglsang’s sprinting ability was never going to be up to speed of his fellow breakaway companions and at the finish of the race, stated that he had aimed for more.

“It was not good for me with a sprint, but you want more, we are here of course to win. It was close and I am perhaps a little annoyed that it wasn't more in the end,” Fuglsang said.

The Danish national time trial champion will hope for a better result when he rides the Olympic time trial on Wednesday.