Tour of Denmark: Lars Boom takes solo victory in Holstebro

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Lars Boom (Astana) took a solo victory at the Tour of Denmark on Tuesday in Holstebro. The Dutchman went on a  late-race flyer from a six-rider lead group and held off the charging chasers to take the win by two seconds ahead of Lars Bak (Lotto Soudal) and Asbjorn Kragh Andersen (Team Trefor - Blue Water). Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani-CSF) led the main field in across the line for seventh place, 39 seconds back.

“I thought I would give it a try and it worked, so I’m happy,” Boom said after crossing the finish line.

Boom will now wear the leader’s jersey into the second stage, a 235km race from Ringkobing to Aarhus on Wednesday. He leads the race by six seconds ahead of Bak and eight seconds ahead of Andersen. But despite being in the early race lead, Boom said that he will likely switch roles and work for teammate Jakob Fuglsang during the upcoming climbing stages.

“My uphill legs aren’t so good, yet, so I think Jakob is still the leader for the climbs, and then we will see,” Boom said.

Stage 1’s 180km race from Struer to Holstebro was a demanding one. Held under rainy conditions, a large group split off the front of the main field at the 50km mark. The group only managed to gain roughly 30 seconds, and were brought back into the fold 30km later.

After a series of counter attacks, a new group formed that included six riders and although it gained three minutes, it was also caught.

With 17km to go, Christopher Juul Jensen (Tinkoff-Saxo) launched the move that formed the winning six-rider breakaway, along with Boom, Bak, Andersen, Mads Pedersen (Cult Energy) and Marco Marcato (Wanty - Groupe Gobert). The six riders gained 40 seconds on the field despite a strong chase effort from the MTN-Qhubeka, that ended up losing riders to mechanicals.

“The final circuit was very technical and with the unpredictable Danish summer weather we had to stay alert in the corners," said Juul Jensen, who finished sixth. "Lars Bak was obviously very strong and we had some riders in the group that had plenty to attend to in just staying with the group. I’m glad that I took some time on several other favorites - then I’m not a natural born sprinter, so I’m pleased with the result.”

The breakaway approached the final kilometres with a healthy 40-second lead. Boom launched his signature move with three kilometres to go and held off the five remaining chasers to take the stage 1 victory.

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