Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) closed out a dominant five days of racing perfectly to take overall victory at the Tour of Denmark, netting his third win on stage 5 in Silkeborg after a thrilling finale.
Axel Zingle (Visma-Lease a Bike) tried to upset the Lidl-Trek party and deny them a fourth win out of five stages, first marking a late surge by Pedersen, but being unable to come around him in the sprint for the win.
Lidl-Trek lit up the racing in the final 12km, exploding the race into pieces up the climb to the finish line, which was taken on four times in laps of a local circuit. This left them with a numeric advantage in a late break of seven, with Pedersen being joined by teammates Jakob Söderqvist and Søren Kragh Andersen.
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They continued to dictate the racing in the final two laps up the short rise to the line, with only Zingle looking like a real challenge to their dominance. In the end, Pedersen had just enough to deny the Frenchman in second, with Söderqvist finishing third on the day, which also moved him up to second on GC.
There were several attacks launched on the road heading south out of Hobro, but eventually, an eight-man break found itself up the road, with a two-minute lead and 100km left to race: Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark), Marius Innhaug Dahl, Daniel Weis Nielsen (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team), Mads Andersen (AIRTOX-Carl Ras), Filippo Ridolfo (Novo Nordisk), Conrad Haugsted, Anders Vos Sørensen (ColoQuick) and Mads Landbo (Give Steel-2M Cycling Elite).
The break stayed together into the final 40km, with Haugsted dropping back after fighting for KOM points, and Andersen going on the attack solo. The peloton was gradually ramping up in pace, just one minute behind, with undulating roads approaching Silkeborg offering attacking chances.
Andersen was the last to be caught 17km from the finish, ending the breakaway as the race entered the circuit laps of the finish in the centre of Jutland.
Lidl-Trek ripped things up with 13km remaining, creating big splits in the field as they pushed on with four riders in a line, with Mattias Skjelmose first and then Mads Pedersen exploding things.
Axel Zingle (Visma-Lease a Bike) held the wheel, with Slovakian national champion Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Tietema Rockets) bridging across solo. It became a group of seven soon after, with Matyáš Kopecký (Novo Nordisk) and second-place GC rider Niklas Larsen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm) also making it.
Lidl-Trek smashed things again up the next lap up the climb with 6km remaining, as Jakob Söderqvist and Pedersen continued to ride, seemingly, for Danish national champion Søren Kragh Andersen. This did for Kubiš and Larsen.
The race leaders changed tack up the final rep of the climb, with Kragh Andersen taking over, and soon Pedersen launched an attack with only Zingle able to follow heading into the last few hundred metres.
With the Visma rider on his wheel, this prompted Pedersen to slow momentarily, allowing Söderqvist and Kopecky to come back and then Kragh Andersen at speed. The Danish champion led around the final corner, giving Pedersen a final lead-out.
Zingle managed to escape getting boxed in by the Lidl-Trek riders and found a lane to sprint against the race leader. But despite his speed, he was unable to overtake Pedersen and had to settle for second place on the stage.
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