Van Aert completes Tour of Denmark hat-trick with uphill victory
Wout van Aert claimed his third consecutive victory at the Tour of Denmark, dropping Lukas Kubis (Unibet Rose Rockets) on the final climb in Vejle to complete the first hat-trick of his professional career.
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The 202.9 kilometre queen stage from Fredericia to Vejle featured around 2,500 metres of climbing and was raced in wet conditions. Van Aert started the day with a 14 second lead in the general classification.
Four Danish riders formed the early breakaway and built an advantage of more than two minutes. Visma | Lease a Bike controlled the peloton behind before increasing the pace with around 60 kilometres remaining.
A large crash disrupted the peloton with 81 kilometres to go, although none of the main favourites appeared to be involved.
Van Aert later narrowly avoided another incident when a Visma | Lease a Bike teammate slipped on the wet road at the front of the peloton. The Belgian was forced onto the grass but remained upright.
He briefly continued on teammate Menno Huising’s bike before stopping for a change. Van Aert quickly returned to the peloton as his team continued to reduce the group.
Andreas Stokbro attacked alone from the breakaway before being joined by three chasers, but their advantage had fallen to around 20 seconds on the first passage through Vejle.
Huising led the chase before Christophe Laporte accelerated on one of the climbs. The remaining attackers were caught and only a small group was able to follow the Visma | Lease a Bike pair.
Van Aert then launched an attack with around 15 kilometres remaining. Kubis was the only rider able to respond immediately, although Laporte and several others returned shortly afterwards.
Laporte tried again inside the final four kilometres, but his move was quickly neutralised. Van Aert also tested his rivals before the race came back together for the final climb.
The Belgian opened his sprint early, with around 800 metres remaining. Kubis briefly drew alongside him, but Van Aert found another acceleration and edged clear on the steep finishing section.
Van Aert secured his third victory in three stages, with Kubis finishing second and Laporte taking third.
The result extended Van Aert’s overall lead to 20 seconds over Kubis, with Laporte third at 30 seconds.
Result: Tour of Denmark stage 3
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