Manuele Boaro (Tinkoff-Saxo) took his first professional victory in impressive fashion when he rode away from everyone else in the finale of the Tour of Denmark queen stage. The Italian attacked on the final climb with less than 3km to arrive at the finish with a 12-second advantage over a select group and so took the leader’s jersey with just two sprint stages and a time trial left in the 5-day race.

Mostly known for his TT skills, Manuele Boaro would have been tipped to take his first professional victory in the individual discipline. However, the Italian broke the ice in unexpected circumstances when he used his climbing legs to win the Tour of Denmark queen stage and put himself in the perfect position to win the race overall.

Riding for the big home team Tinkoff-Saxo, Manuele Boaro saw his teammates make the race hard and stage favourite Matti Breschel rode a very aggressive race on the 5.5km finishing circuit that was tackled thrice and whose short, steep 21% climb was set to make a big selection. Meanwhile, Boaro hid in the peloton before making his own move the final time up the ascent.

No one could match the strong Italian who opened a gap over a select group that included his teammate Breschel. Putting his TT skills to good use, he held off his chasers by 12 seconds, with Breschel winning the sprint over Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Belisol) to make it a Tinkoff-Saxo 1-2.

The stage was the queen stage of the race and brought the riders over 176km from Skanderborg to Vejle. The first part took place on narrow, rolling roads with four categorized climbs but it was the finishing circuit that would provide the drama. The 5.5km circuit would be tackled thrice and included a short climb with section of 21% very close to the finish.

106 riders took the start under beautiful sunny conditions but one rider failed to sign in. Martin Toft Madsen (Denmark) had fallen ill and was unable to continue in the race.

As it had been the case in the first two stages, the start was extremely fast as lots of riders wanted to be art of the early break. After less than 10km of racing, 20 riders got clear and build a 30-second advantage but that was too dangerous for Lars Bak’s Lotto Belisol who brought it back together.

Another 10-rider group attacked but when the peloton reached the first KOM sprint at the 24.4km mark, it was back together. Emil Halvorsen (Riwal) beat Rolf Nyborg Broge (Denmark), KOM leader John Murphy and Marc De Maar (both Unitedhealthcare) in the battle for maximum points.

Jay Robert Thomson (MTN) and Martijn Verschoor (Novo Nordisk) got a small gap after 30km of racing and were joined by Nicolai Brøchner (Denmark). At the 37km mark, however, it was again back together.

Next a 12-rider group got clear but that was also too dangerous for the major teams. After more than 50km of racing, Federico Zurlu (Unitedhealthcare), Kasper Klostergaard (Riwal), Jay Thomson (MTN) and Scott Ambrose (Novo Nordisk) finally made the right attack and as the peloton slowed down, they built a gap that reached 3.15 after 60km of racing.

While Trefor kept the gap at around 3.30, Zurlu led Klostergaard, Thomson and Ambrose over the top of the next two categorized climbs. At the 105km mark, the gap had grown to 4 minutes and at this point Martin Reimer (MTN) hit the deck in the peloton.

The gap reached a maximum of 4.20 but now Astana and CULT started to chase. Ambrose beat Thomson and Klostergaard in the first intermediate sprint while the two chasing teams kept the gap stable.

Zurlu, Klostergaard, Thomson and Ambrose was again the order on the day’s final categorized climb and the peloton had now accelerated hard. At the 150km, the gap was down to 1.10 and at this point a strong 6-rider chase group with Rasmus Quaade (Trefo) and Christopher Juul (Tinkoff) had been created.

Bardiani had now taken over the pace-setting in the peloton while Ambrose was dropped from the front group. The hard work by the Italian team brought things back together as they hit the finishing circuit in Vejle.

Rasmus Guldhammer (Trefor), Breschel and Tosh van der Sande (Lotto) attacked the first time up the climb and crossed the line for the first time with a 15-second advantage. Several riders bridged the gap on the first lap and it was a 40-rider group that started the penultimate lap in the lead.

6 riders, including race leader Magnus Cort (Cult), attacked while a crash brought down pre-race favourite Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) who was forced to abandon. The front group was brought back and instead Guldhammer launched a solo attack on the climb.

Going into the final lap, Guldhammer was the lone leader but more riders, including Cort, joined him before the final passage of the climb. At the bottom, a 40-rider group was back together and this was when Boaro launched his move.

The Italian opened a gap and from there he time trialled his way to the finish where Breschel won the sprint for second over Benoot.

Cort lost 37 seconds and so Boaro takes over the leader’s jersey with an 18-second advantage over Benoot. The Italian is now the major favourite to win the race as tomorrow offers a flat stage in the morning and a flat 15km time trial in the afternoon before the final sprint stage to Frederiksberg on Sunday.