Matti Breschel (Saxo Bank) won the third stage of the Tour of Denmark between Hadsten and Vejle as part of a two-man breakaway. The former Danish champion crossed the line ahead of his teammate and compatriot Jakob Fuglsang after the pair of them escaped the peloton on the steep 21% slopes of the Kiddesvej. Joost Van Leijen (Vacansoleil) won the sprint for third place, 17 seconds behind the two Danes.
”Before the stage, we actually joked about escaping from the pack and making it to the finish line but having realised it is still kind of surreal,” said Breschel after the stage. “The Team did an amazing job tiring the whole peloton before the finale and as we established the lead it was all about keeping it going to the finish line.“
The 185km stage began at a high tempo and so it was not until the 30km mark that a four-man break was able to get clear. Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil), Kasper Jebjerg (Design Kokken), Nikolaj Oleson (Concordia Insurance) and Sep Vanmarcke (Topsport Vlaanderen) were the ones allowed to get away; between them they managed to build a lead in excess of 6 minutes.
With around 50km to go, the entire Saxo Bank team moved to the front of the peloton and increased the pace. This had the effect of pulling back the breakaway with 30km of the stage still to go, but also reduced the peloton to around 40 riders. Yesterday’s stage winner, and current race leader, Michael Van Stayen (Topsport Vlaanderen) was among those to lose contact with the front of the race.
Shortly afterwards an attack from Fuglsang was followed by Breschel and the two teammates rode away from the rest of the field. Despite a strong chase from what was now a 25-strong group behind them, the two Danish riders had a lead of 40 seconds with 5km to go.
With the stage victory Breschel also took the race leader’s yellow jersey, but with a time trial to come Fuglsang looks odds-on to win his third successive victory in the race.
Result stage 3
1. Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo Bank
2. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank
3. Joost Van Leijen (Ned) Vacansoleil @ 17s
4. Troels Ronning Vinther (Den) Glud & Marstrand
5. Xavier Florencio (Spa) Cervélo TestTeam
6. Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Team Design Kokken-Blue Water
7. Koen De Kort (Ned) Skil-Shimano
8. Richie Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
9. Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin-Transitions
10. Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator
Standings after stage 3
1. Matti Breschel (Den) Team Saxo Bank
2. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank @ 10s
3. Joost Van Leijen (Ned) Vacansoleil @ 29s
4. Xavier Florencio (Spa) Cervélo TestTeam @ 38s
5. Sergey Firsanov (Rus) Team Design Kokken-Blue Water @ 41s