Wout van Aert crashes on comeback but produces stunning chase to win in Denmark

The opening stage of the Tour of Denmark was won by Wout van Aert. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider produced a remarkable effort to bridge across to a strong leading group before finishing the job in the sprint. He did so despite being caught up in a huge crash earlier in the day. Lukas Kubis of Unibet Rose Rockets finished second, with Uno-X Mobility’s Henrik Pedersen taking third.

The drama of the Tour de France had barely come to an end before another peloton was ready to roll out at the Tour of Denmark. The start list featured plenty of strong names, including Tibor Del Grosso of Alpecin-Premier Tech, Lukas Kubis of Unibet Rose Rockets and former winner Christophe Laporte of Visma | Lease a Bike. Most of the attention, however, was focused on Laporte’s teammate Van Aert.

The Belgian had originally been expected to ride the Tour de France, but he crashed before the Tour Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes. Although he still managed to win a stage in the French race, his injury proved more serious than initially thought. It was goodbye Tour and hello Denmark for the 31-year-old all-rounder, who won both a stage and the general classification here in 2018 while riding for Vérandas Willems-Crelan.

His comeback began with a relatively flat stage. The early breakaway was made up of local Danish riders, but it never posed much of a threat. They were given little room and were caught by the peloton with more than 70 kilometres remaining. The pace was high, partly because of the strong winds. The threat of crosswinds created nervousness in the bunch and ultimately contributed to a huge crash.

Shortly after the breakaway had been caught, things went badly wrong. Around 40 riders hit the ground, with some ending up in the roadside verge and others falling on the asphalt. The incident caused major splits in the peloton. Van Aert and Kubis were among those caught behind, while riders including Del Grosso and Laporte had been positioned just ahead of the crash. They were therefore able to form a large front group with around 30 other riders.

For a time, it appeared that several major names would lose significant time. There was little cooperation at the front, however, partly because many riders did not want to distance their own teammates. The groups came back together with approximately 55 kilometres remaining, giving three more Danish riders an opportunity to attack. The sprinters’ teams were happy to allow them some freedom.

Sebastian Nielsen of ColoQuick was the final survivor from that move. He was the first to reach the finishing circuit, which featured several short climbs. Uno-X Mobility’s Rasmus Tiller also attempted an attack there, but Visma | Lease a Bike remained comfortably in control with assistance from Lotto-Intermarché. Nielsen was eventually caught with ten kilometres to go.

Unibet Rose Rockets went on the attack over the short hills. Former winner Niklas Larsen attempted to get away, but Visma | Lease a Bike immediately sent a rider with the Dane. The action was far from over, as Uno-X Mobility also accelerated. That move split the race, with the Rockets placing both Tomas Kopecky and Kubis in the leading group, although Laporte was there as well.

Tim Torn Teutenberg of Lidl-Trek, Pier-André Coté of NSN and Uno-X Mobility’s Henrik Pedersen also made the selection. The peloton was not far behind, but several of the major teams had little reason to contribute to the chase. On the final climb, Van Aert launched an acceleration from the bunch. Søren Kragh Andersen of Lidl-Trek followed him, although the Dane was there primarily to disrupt the pursuit. Van Aert continued to drive at full speed.

With three kilometres remaining, Van Aert made contact with the leaders. Alpecin-Premier Tech was left to organise the chase alone in the peloton, but its effort was not enough. Laporte moved to the front and prepared the sprint for his teammate. Van Aert opened up his sprint and held off Kubis, Pedersen and Teutenberg to complete an extraordinary comeback victory.