The Dutch rider Wilco Kelderman (Belkin) won the Tour of Denmark yesterday, dashing the hopes of home crowd favourite Lars Bak (Lotto-Belisol) who finished in second place in the GC 6 seconds behind Kelderman.

The five day-stage race Tour of Denmark started on Wednesday with a stage of 180km to Varde. The riders took off in Silkeborg, hometown of Lars Bak who entered the race with ambitions of winning the overall classification. It was for him of course a special race because a lot of friends, family and fans were supporting him along the side of the road. Eventually Bak ended third on the day after he attacked from the bunch and joined the escapees at 15km from the finish.

The next day a hard and windy stage from Ribe to Sønderborg was on the agenda. Jens Debusschere closed the gap between the pack and the four leaders, but he was caught by the bunch eventually. After some difficult local laps the race resulted in a bunch sprint that was won by Breschel. Dehaes ended 7th while Lars Bak was good in the front as he took 10th place. As a result Bak moved to the second place in the overall standings.

On Friday the riders had to cope with the hardest stage of the Tour of Denmark. During the whole race Biran Bulgaç and Maarten Neyens were working in the front of the peloton. After that Lars Bak could break away in the final with five others. He tried to attack but on the last climb in the final lap the bunch caught the leaders. Bak came in fourth after a bunch sprint. The individual time trial the next day turned out to be decisive for the outcome of the GC. Wilco Kelderman was 18 seconds faster than Bak. Kelderman moved to the first place in the GC and was 6 seconds ahead of Bak.

“I felt I was strong the whole week because in every stage I ended in the front,” Bak said after the conclusion of the final stage on Sunday. “Unfortunately I made some minor mistakes during the time trial so I lost time. Kelderman simply was too strong and he finished 18 seconds ahead of me. At that point the winner of the Tour of Denmark was certain. I’m a bit disappointed because when you’re so close to a victory you want to win, especially when it’s a stage race in your native country. 6 seconds is not much but they make the difference between first and second place. But second place is not bad either, as I aimed for top five. Next year I will absolutely go for it again.”