Tour of Denmark: Søren Wærenskjold holds off bunch sprint to claim solo win on stage 1

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Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X) claimed a solo victory, and with it, the race lead on the opening stage of the Tour of Denmark, racing home to claim the victory in Aalborg having attacked from the peloton 4.2km from the line.

The Norwegian’s fourth win of 2023 saw him cross the line on the closing hilly circuit with an advantage of six seconds over the chasing peloton, with Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) rounding out the podium behind.

Wærenskjold’s win came after an attacking display of riding on the closing 35km of the 170km stage on three laps of the tricky circuit in Aalborg, which featured a 500-metre, 7.7% climb.

Riders including Nicola Conci (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Alexander Kamp (Tudor), and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) all tried moves on the circuit, though all were shut down by teams looking for a sprint finish.

However, nobody could stop Wærenskjold when he clipped off the front inside the final 5km in response to a move from Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny).

He opened a gap on the downhill run and held his slim advantage as Skjelmose led the chase behind on behalf of Pedersen along with Soudal-QuickStep. But the sprint teams couldn’t close the gap to the former U23 time trial world champion, leaving Wærenskjold free to solo to the line.

The 23-year-old now leads the race by 10 seconds from Jakobsen, heading into another hilly stage to Silkeborg on Wednesday. Pedersen is third overall at 12 seconds down.

His win, coming in addition to triumphs at the Saudi Tour, Baloise Belgium Tour and the Norwegian time trial title, is Uno-X’s 11th of the 2023 season, their previous victory coming with Frederik Dversnes’ national title back in June.

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