Tinkoff-Saxo’s Matti Breschel took his fourth stage win on the iconic climb of Kiddesvej, which traditionally sets the scene for the queen stage in Tour of Denmark. Meanwhile, Chris Juul-Jensen moves to third in the overall GC, just 12 seconds from the lead before the decisive time trial Friday. “This is why we ride - to get wins like this”, says Breschel.

A fully committed Tinkoff-Saxo squad destabilized the queen stage by launching attacks in an effort to claim the win on the iconic finishing climb Kiddesvej with percentages above 20. After a flat-out finale, where GC captain Chris Juul-Jensen worked to set up his teammate from a small front group, Breschel claimed his record eight stage win in Tour of Denmark.

“It was a really tough finale but I’m very happy. This is why we ride - to get wins like this. It’s been a long time since my last win so it’s amazing when it all plays out. Today, we planned to create a hard race and the team did a great job to destabilize the race, as we got closer to Vejle. After my first attack on the climb up Kiddesvej, where I tried to open up the race, I could sense that I had to pace myself, as we had to do it three more times”, says Matti Breschel before adding:

“I had to control my effort but our attack had created a good group and we had distanced the group behind us. I have been aiming for this stage to take the win and Chris Juul as our GC rider knew when I would attack and for him it was about staying with me, when I attacked. Unfortunately, Lars Bak also made it in the group but Chris is now third in the GC trailing by just 12 seconds. He’s strong in time trials, so it’ll be exciting to see how the overall looks after tomorrow’s evening time trial”, adds Matti Breschel, who is now 4th in the GC, one place behind team captain Chris Juul-Jensen.

The 185km queen stage of Tour of Denmark consisted of no less than 2000 meters of altitude gain in punchy terrain. Tinkoff-Saxo sports director Lars Michaelsen notes that the team wanted to put on the pressure early on the stage and ultimately succeeded in grabbing the win and keeping the GC ambitions alive.

“I want to stress the fact that the entire squad put in a massive effort today from Michael Mørkøv, who led the guys, to McCarthy who put on the pressure with his attack before the final laps. They followed the plan and they used their heads and energy at crucial points to take the initiative in the race. Matti claimed his fourth win on this climb and proved that he is highly capable in this kind of terrain”, comments Lars Michaelsen before going into details with the winning acceleration.

“On the final time up Kiddesvej, Matti first put in an attack to catch the one guy out front, who had gone clear from the group a few kilometers earlier. Then he did right in waiting a brief moment to force the other riders to the front before he accelerated again, which proved decisive. At the same time, Juul-Jensen came in just 9 seconds later although he had been putting in a huge effort to keep the stage win within reach. He’s now in a good position before tomorrow’s time trial. We can only be pleased, we got the stage win and Chris Juul is still very much in play for in the GC. We now have to keep this momentum and stay attentive”, finishes Lars Michaelsen.