It's official: Van Aert wins his second consecutive stage in Denmark after a review

The organizers must have been delighted with how the race began on Wednesday. The opening stage went to Van Aert, who was competing for the first time since suffering an injury in June. The Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike crashed during his comeback race but fought his way back before winning the sprint from a select lead group. The victory put him into the leader’s jersey, while teammate Christophe Laporte also remained well placed in the general classification.

The second stage was expected to have less of an impact on the overall standings. The route was almost entirely flat, although the riders still faced several short and relatively gentle climbs in the finale. The stage began in Glyngøre, a name that may sound familiar to cycling fans: it is Jonas Vingegaard’s hometown. The two-time Tour de France winner was naturally present to watch the race and support his Visma | Lease a Bike teammates.

The Dane provided an update on his recovery following his heavy crash at the Tour de France before encouraging his teammates at the start. Visma understandably kept a relatively low profile during the opening part of the stage, allowing a seven-rider breakaway to move clear. The group contained five Danish riders, one Swede and one Italian, and its maximum advantage quickly grew to around five minutes.

The wind began to strengthen as the race entered its second half. Uno-X Mobility tried to split the peloton in the crosswinds and received assistance from several teams, including Visma | Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek and Unibet Rose Rockets. Echelons formed almost immediately, leaving a front section of approximately 50 riders. Lotto-Intermarché was among the teams forced to chase from the second group after missing the initial split.

There was not enough cooperation at the front to keep the groups apart, however, and the peloton eventually came back together. Several more attempts were made to split the race during the following kilometers, but none succeeded. The breakaway began the final local lap, which was approximately 20 kilometers long, with only a small advantage. Several riders then tried to attack from the peloton as the lack of organization created opportunities on the finishing circuit.

Moves from Lionel Taminiaux of Lotto-Intermarché, Mattias Malmberg of Swatt, Henri Uhlig of Alpecin-Premier Tech and Martin Marcellusi of Bardiani CSF 7 Saber forced Visma | Lease a Bike and Unibet Rose Rockets to organize the chase. The attackers were eventually caught during the final lap. A bunch sprint appeared inevitable, but Uno-X Mobility was still determined to prevent the fast men from deciding the stage.

Alexander Kamp picked up the pace, but was quickly caught by the peloton. Unibet Rose Rockets sent Lukas Kubis to the front, but Wout van Aert was right on the Slovak champion’s wheel. They both launched their sprints at the same time, but were outpaced by Jensen Plowright in the final meters. The Australian came out of nowhere and managed to cross the line with a series of incredible maneuvers. However, the photo finish seemed to tell a different story...

That’s why the jury decided to review the sprint one more time. After that review, the stage victory was ultimately awarded to Van Aert, who won his second stage in a row.