Mads Pedersen conquers the first stage of the Tour of Denmark, the Nexo-Ronne of 178.3 kilometers, in a tight sprint preceding Lukas Kubis and his compatriot Conrad Haugsted on the podium.

This inaugural day was practically a tour of Bornholm, an island belonging to Denmark though closer to the Swedish coast than to the motherland. A quintet of breakaway riders animated the race on the continuous stop-and-go efforts: Victor Vercouillie (Flanders Baloise) Marius Innhaug Dahl (Decathlon Development) Conrad Haugsted (Colo Quick) Magnus Bak Klaris (Airtox Carl Ras) and Julius Johansen, now a domestique for UAE but present here with the red jersey of the home National team. On the penultimate passage of the Helligpeder wall, 35 km from the finish, another quintet formed behind the breakaway: Niklas Larsen (BHS PL Beton) Lukas Kubis (Tietema Rockets) William Blume (Uno X) Mattias Skjelmose and Mads Pedersen for a Lidl Trek that fields five Danes out of seven riders in the startlist and wants to stamp its mark on the race.

On the last Helligpeder wall, 22 km from the finish, seeing the chasers bring themselves within half a minute, Klaris and Johansen pulled away from the other three attackers and remained alone at the front until 10 km from the finish, when a general regrouping created a leading group of ten riders. With Dahl stopped by cramps, nine men played for the victory and thus immediately carved out a gap from the rest of the peloton in the standings. Great teamwork by Skjelmose, who stopped a couple of finisseur attempts by the combative Johansen and the Belgian Vercouillie, and a textbook sprint finalization by Pedersen. Regulating the peloton, a namesake of the winner completes the top-10: Henrik Pedersen, of Uno X. Best Italian is 18th Filippo Ridolfo, of Novo Nordisk.

MAIN GROUP FINISH ORDER

1 Pedersen Mads Lidl-Trek 04:03:45

2 Kubis Lukas Unibet Tietema Rockets + 00

3 Haugsted Conrad Team Coloquick + 00

4 Larsen Niklas BHS-PL Beton Bornholm + 00

5 Blume Levy William Uno-X Mobility + 00

6 Klaris Magnus Bak Airtox-Carl Ras + 00

7 Johansen Julius Denmark + 00

8 Skjelmose Mattias Lidl-Trek + 02

9 Vercouillie Victor Team Flanders-Baloise + 05

10 Pedersen Henrik Uno-X Mobility + 38

11 Menten Milan Lotto + 38

12 Zingle Axel Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 38

13 Eekhoff Nils Team Picnic PostNL + 38

14 Juel Skivild Robin Denmark + 38

15 Nørtoft Morten Team Coloquick + 38

16 Hansen Alexander Arnt Airtox-Carl Ras + 38

17 Van Hemelen Vincent Team Flanders-Baloise + 38

18 Ridolfo Filippo Team Novo Nordisk + 38

19 Stokbro Nielsen Andreas Unibet Tietema Rockets + 38

20 Bevort Carl-Frederik Uno-X Mobility + 38

21 Withen Philipsen Albert Lidl-Trek + 38

22 Landbo Mads Team Give Steel - 2M Cycling Elite + 38

23 Wang Gustav Denmark + 38

24 Kopecky Matyas Team Novo Nordisk + 38

25 Vandenstorme Dylan Team Flanders-Baloise + 38

26 Blaise Arthur Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team + 38

27 Haugland Kasper Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team + 38

28 Segaert Alec Lotto + 38

29 Kerckhaert Jochem BEAT Cycling Club + 38

30 de Vries Hartthijs Unibet Tietema Rockets + 38

31 Söderqvist Jakob Lidl-Trek + 38

32 Schandorff Iwersen Emil BHS-PL Beton Bornholm + 38

33 van Baarle Dylan Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 38

34 Vanhoof Ward Team Flanders-Baloise + 38

35 Foldager Anders Denmark + 38

36 Currie Logan Lotto + 38

37 Clemmensen Theodor Denmark + 38

38 van der Tuuk Axel Euskaltel-Euskadi + 38

39 Cort Magnus Uno-X Mobility + 38

40 Tonelli Alessandro Team Polti VisitMalta + 38

41 Zubeldia Unai Euskaltel-Euskadi + 38

42 Dahl Gustav Frederik Team Give Steel - 2M Cycling Elite + 38

43 L'Hote Antoine Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team + 38

44 Svarre Tobias Team Coloquick + 38

45 Würtz Schmidt Mads Denmark + 38

46 Giddings Joshua Lotto + 38

47 Toupalik Adam Unibet Tietema Rockets + 38

48 Del Grosso Tibor Alpecin-Deceuninck + 38

49 Chaleil Louis Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team + 38

50 Ramsay Noah Alpecin-Deceuninck + 38

51 Philipsen Jasper Alpecin-Deceuninck + 38

52 Weis Daniel Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team + 38

53 De Schuyteneer Steffen Lotto + 38

54 Mattio Pietro Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 38

55 Kragh Andersen Søren Lidl-Trek + 38

56 Dahl Marius Innhaug Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Development Team + 38

... all others following over 4 and a half minutes behind