Simon Gerrans stood firm on the final stage to clinch a superb overall victory at the Tour of Denmark.
Australian holds off Bennati to secure yellow jersey
Simon Gerrans stood firm on the final stage to clinch a superb overall victory at the Tour of Denmark.
The Australian took the event by the scruff of the neck after moving into the race lead on stage three before going on to extend his advantage over the final two days - eventually taking a nine-second victory over Daniele Bennati (Leopard Trek).
The success marks the first win for Gerrans in Team Sky colours and brings to an end a fantastic foray into Denmark for the whole squad, culminating in victory in the team classification.
Not only did the 31-year-old seal the yellow jersey, he was backed up by strong performances from Alex Dowsett and Dario Cioni as the team packed out the top-10.
A strong ride on the first stage followed by a powerful showing on the Saturday evening time trial saw Dowsett net fifth place overall in his first race back following an ankle injury.
Cioni was also to the fore and after a week of consistency the experienced Italian came home just one place further back in sixth.
Team performance
The final day produced a stage-long battle between Team Sky and Leopard Trek as the latter attempted to propel Bennati into a position to gain precious bonus seconds.
The team was on hand to steer Gerrans through the final day pitfalls with the Australian even able to add an additional second to his advantage as he out-kicked Bennati at the day’s first intermediate sprint.
That meant the sprinter had to win the stage to stand any chance of victory, a feat he was denied as Theo Bos (Rabobank) took the win.
The Dutchman held off the Colnago-CSF duo of Sacha Modolo and Manuel Belletti to take the bunch sprint, while Gerrans made sure to stay at the sharp end as the field whipped around the finishing circuit in Frederiksberg.
Tense finale
Not only was there tension in the air as the field rolled out of Hillerod but also spots of rain to give the peloton a wet start to the day.
Gerrans and Team Sky began the day looking to hold on to an eight-second advantage against the threat of Bennati.
Sprint points were always likely to be a potential danger, with a maximum of 16 bonus seconds theoretically up for grabs throughout the stage.
Leopard Trek were keen to close down any early moves but could only hold out for so long as a three man group finally forced its way clear, with Andre Steensen (Saxo Bank-Sungard), Lasse Bochman (Glud & Marstrand) and Kristian Sobota (Christina Watches) forced clear.
Pressure from the Luxembourg-based squad saw the break brought back just in time for the first sprint of the day, yet with all eyes on Bennati, it was Gerrans who unleashed a turn of speed to cross the line first, edging a further second clear of the renowned sprinter.
Great result
After the race we caught up with thrilled Sports Director Marcus Ljungqvist who was happy to see the team combine to great effect in helping Gerrans to victory.
He said: "It’s a really good result. A very nice win for Simon and for the team. Like always without the help of the team it is difficult to pull something off so it was great to see."
As expected Ljungqvist revealed that tactics came into play, adding: "There was a lot of talk before about who would do what. We would have done the same and try to control it until the first sprint and try and get the seconds which is exactly what Leopard Trek wanted to do.
“But it was full-on bike racing from the start today. They had to fight for it and work hard to get the intermediate sprint. It was a perfect one for us. Simon nipped in front of Bennati and took a bit of his morale I think.
“But Bennati could have still won the race with the 10-second bonus on the line so it wasn’t over until the finish. The rest of the team they did a great job supporting and taking care of Simon, making sure he was in position at all times.
“We were joking that we started a bit slow in this race but as it has gone on it has been really good. All in all a great result.”
