Breschel takes back-to-back victories in Denmark

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Matti Breschel (Saxo-Tinkoff) won stage 3 at the Tour of Denmark from a five-rider breakaway and also moved into the general classification lead of his national Tour. Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox) and Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) finished second and third respectively behind the 28-year-old Dane, followed by Lars Bak (Lotto Belisol) in fourth and Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox) in fifth.

Breschel not only won his second straight stage, but now holds the leader's yellow jersey with a six-second advantage over Bak while Bongiorno moves up to third at 14 seconds.

The peloton was shattered on the 200km queen stage from Sønderborg to Vejle through a combination of crosswinds, record heat, hills, plus a taxing finishing circuit. Overnight race leader Magnus Cort Nielsen (Team Cult Energy) finished in a 16-rider group at 48 seconds and dropped to ninth on general classification.

The day's early break formed just 10km into the stage as six riders went out on the attack: Alex Rasmussen (Garmin-Sharp), Mikhail Ignatyev (Katusha), Mark Sehested Pedersen (Blue Water Cycling), Michael Reihs (Team Cult Energy), Søren Kragh Andersen (Team Tre-For) and Mikkel Mortensen (Team Concordia Forsikring-Riwal). After 25km of racing their lead reached three minutes and for the next couple of hours their advantage fluctuated slightly between 2:40 and three minutes on the peloton.

Crosswinds split the peloton at the 84km mark, but the field eventually re-grouped. The Belkin team had been setting tempo at the head of the peloton and after covering 113km the break's lead had dropped to 1:30. In addition to the hilly terrain during the Tour of Denmark's longest stage, the peloton was having to grapple with the hottest temperatures in race history, with the mercury reaching 31.5 Celsius.

Belkin kept the break's advantage pegged at 1:30 for the next 30km but then the escape group started to falter as both Rasmussen and Sehested were dropped at 146km.

Saxo-Tinkoff and Lotto Belisol both provided assistance to Belkin in the peloton and the four riders in front saw their lead drop below one minute. With approximately 35km remaining, the break was caught and a group of 10 went out on the attack. Just prior to reaching the 5.6km finishing circuit in Vejle, to be completed three times, the lead group had increased in size to approximately 20 riders.

The finishing circuit featured a stiff, 21 percent ascent which provided a perfect platform for riders to go on the attack. Lars Bak, Matti Breschel and Wilco Kelderman were particularly aggressive and eventually a lead group formed inside the final 10km comprised of Bak, Breschel, Kelderman, Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil-DCM), Troels Vinther (Team Cult Energy) plus a pair of Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox riders, Francesco Bongiorno and Edoardo Zardini.

Bak was the highest-place rider on GC in the front group, starting the day just seven seconds out of yellow, but Breschel, too, was a threat to take over the race lead as he was only one place behind Bak on GC at 11 seconds. Not wanting to go head-to-head with Breschel in a sprint finish, Bak tried to solo away to victory on the final lap as he pushed the pace on the Kiddesvej climb. The Lotto Belisol rider, however, would again be chased down by his breakaway companions, with Breschel, Kelderman, Bongiorno and Zardini making contact and setting up a sprint finale.

Breschel once again proved the fastest as he won for the second straight day, plus earned the leader's yellow jersey to cap off another strong performance.