Topsport’s van Stayen wins Tour of Denmark stage and takes overall lead

Michael van Stayen (Topsport Vlaandern) won Thursday’s stage 2 of the Tour of Denmark, outsprinting Saxo Bank’s Matti Breschel at the end of the 170km run.

Two Danish riders, Michael Tronborg (Glud & Marstrand-LRØ Rådgivning) and Thomas Riber-Sellebjerg (Concordia) broke away early as the race started in heavy rain. The pair built a three-minute gap, but were brought back with about 20km to go as Saxo Bank and HTC-Columbia led the chase.

On the finishing laps on a small circuit in Randers, two-time defending champion Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank) attacked twice, the second time being joined by HTC-Columbia’s Mark Renshaw. The two were brought back in the final kilometer and van Stayen was able to improve on his stage 1 second place and take over the race leadership.

Friday’s stage is the hilliest of the race, running 185km from Hadsten to Vejle, including a tough finish circuit that includes the infamous Kiddesvej climb.

American Taylor Phinney, in his first ProTour race with RadioShack, raced bandaged from Wednesday’s crash but was active at the front on the finishing circuits, helping the team chase down Fuglsang to try and position Gert Steegmans for the sprint.

Complete results

Quick results:
Stage 2:

• 1. Michael VAN STAYEN, (BEL) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator, in 3:59:08
• 2. Matti BRESCHEL, (DEN) Team Saxo Bank, at 0
• 3. Bert DE BACKER, (BEL) Skil-Shimano, at 0
• 4. Jeremy HUNT, (GBR) Cervélo TestTeam, at 0
• 5. Manuel BELLETTI, (ITA) Colnago-CSF, at 0

GC after stage 2:

• 1. Michael VAN STAYEN, (BEL) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator, in 8:03:13
• 2. Matthew Harley GOSS, (AUS) HTC-Columbia, at 5
• 3. Matti BRESCHEL, (DEN) Team Saxo Bank, at 10
• 4. Manuel BELLETTI, (ITA) Colnago-CSF, at 10
• 5. Mark RENSHAW, (AUS) HTC-Columbia, at 11

FILED UNDER: News / Race Report / Road TAGS: Michael van Stayen / Tour of Denmark