How it happened
A wet and wild stage in Denmark forced Mads to go deep just to stay in contention, but he fought back to finish 3rd in Aalborg. Heavy rain showers broke midway through the first stage, which resulted in mass punctures on the roads around Aalborg for the whole peloton. Mads’ bad luck came at a crucial point during the local laps, forcing a wheel swap between himself and teammate Daan Hoole before a long chase back to the peloton.
No sooner had Mads returned after his monster effort he was on the front, putting in an attack on the climb in the hope to drop his main sprint rival Fabio Jakobson. It worked, but only temporarily as Jakobson was able to return before the finish. Shortly before the finish, Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X) was able to slip away and hold a small gap. In the bunch sprint, Jakobson was able to get the better of Mads, who finished in third.
Mads’ words
“I swapped wheels with Daantje [Daan Hoole] on the longer climb and I just had to fight like a mother***** to come back because there were no cars, there was nothing. It was just fighting, fighting, fighting for one lap full gas. I made it back and tried to commit to the plan we had to go hard on the short, steeper climb but I didn’t have the full speed after spending bullets to come back. In the end it was a good day. We knew it would be tough to sprint against Fabio, but anyway we were sprinting for second so chapeau to Wærenskjold today, it was pretty amazing by him.
I think everyone did their job today, they were all commited. I’m happy with the Team and I’m proud of them.”
Today’s photos
Courtesy of Sprint Cycling
