Jakobsen loses 12 minutes upon return, Visma | Lease a Bike had hoped for more in first stage in Denmark

Lidl-Trek dominated stage 1 in Denmark and ensured that almost all the fast men were left behind on the short climbs and technical Danish roads. Only Pedersen was there and won the stage. A whole bunch of other sprinters finished almost twelve minutes behind the day's winner. Among them was Jakobsen, who will not necessarily have looked at the results. He will have been happy to be back in the race after riding his last race in Bruges-De Panne in March.

This was also evident from his reaction to the NOS: “It's great to be back in the race. I was in the last group, but quite comfortable. I'm happy to be back,” he said. Jakobsen said he mainly had to get used to riding in a peloton again. ‘I notice it mainly in my hands, I was braking a lot more. When you train, you hardly brake, but here in the race, it's corner after corner. And it was quite hectic.’

However, the feeling was and is excellent. 'After five weeks of training, I already feel better than last winter after three months of preparation. It's the first race again. I'm still lacking a bit of fitness, but my legs are turning well, better than before. I just need to get back into the rhythm of racing. That doesn't happen by itself. You have to put in the hours. But on top of the climbs, my legs are still turning and I'm processing the lactic acid faster and easier than before."

Visma | Lease a Bike just missed out on stage 1. The Dutch team would have loved to sprint with Axel Zingle, but the 26-year-old Frenchman was unable to keep up with the first group of nine. He finished with the first chasers in 12th place, 38 seconds behind Pedersen. “We hoped to sprint with Axel on the tough course, but it turned out to be even more difficult than expected,” sports director Maarten Wynants analyzed via the team's official channels.

Pedersen was the reason Zingle had to drop out. On the second climb of the Helligpeder (700 meters at 7.4 percent), the Dane from Lidl-Trek broke away. Despite hard work, the group that formed as a result was not seen again. Wynants realized that Pedersen was making it very difficult on what seemed to be a course that should be doable for sprinters. “Especially because Pedersen went full throttle on every climb.”

And so Zingle had to settle for a place of honor. “Axel was close, but not directly on the wheel, which meant we ended up falling behind a little. Many of our riders have just returned from altitude training, so they are still lacking a bit of rhythm. I expect things to improve over the next few days. Tomorrow will be a day for the pure sprinters. We will do our best to achieve a good result.”