At the final opportunity, the colors shine at the PostNord Tour of Denmark 2026. Having the better of it at the end of a rather chaotic sprint marked by a nasty crash 400 meters from the finish, Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen (racing not with the Decathlon CGA CGM jersey but with that of his national team) conquered the closing stage of the short Scandinavian stage race, the Køge-Rødovre of 126 kilometers, beating in order Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek), Tom Crabbe (Flanders Baloise) and Giovanni Lonardi (Polti VisitMalta).

Only eleventh Wout van Aert, who remained boxed in during the final tens of meters and thus unable to dispute his sprint: the Belgian from Team Visma Lease a Bike consoled himself anyway by taking home the blue jersey of the general classification, which saw him prevail, thanks to three stage victories, with 21 seconds over Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Rose Rockets) and 28" over Henrik Pedersen (Uno-X Mobility).

THE RACE

Not betraying the script followed in previous days, today as well, just after leaving Køge, the group departs at full speed registering a series of attacks and counterattacks. This liveliness leads, after about twenty kilometers, to the formation of a very large breakaway composed of twenty-one elements: Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl - Trek), Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin – Premier Tech), Lionel Taminiaux (Lotto Intermarché), Dillon Corkery (Picnic PostNL), Ashlin Barry (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Samuele Zoccarato (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort), Tyler Stites (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling), Michiel Lambrecht (Team Flanders - Baloise), Filippo Ridolfo (Team Novo Nordisk), Mirco Maestri (Polti VisitMalta), Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets), Nikolaj Mengel (AIRTOX - Carl Ras), Marcus Sander Hansen (BHS - PL Beton Bornholm), Teodor De Luca (Lucky Sport Cycling Team), Mads Andersen, Francesco Carollo, Matias Malmberg and Manuel Oioli (Swatt Club), Mads Landbo (Team ColoQuick), Casper Pedersen and Gustav Wang (Denmark).

To this group, however, due to its size, not much space is granted by the peloton which, pulled by the men of Uno-X Mobility and Visma Lease a Bike, keeps the gap always under 1'30". The breakaway riders thus, passing through the intermediate sprints at Hedehusene (1st De Luca) and Gundsømagle (1st Larsen) and through the only climb of the day at Hovevej (won by Taminiaux), approach the short final circuit of Rødovre (a 7.1 kilometer loop to be repeated five times) with 40 seconds, a margin that, two laps later, narrows further to 30 seconds.

With the peloton now on their heels, during the penultimate lap several try to give new impetus to the attempt but the only ones to truly believe in this mission are the two Swatt Club riders Malmberg and Andersen who, taking a wide line as a pair while their other companions are caught, remain in the lead until 3900 meters from the finish when, together with Andreas Stokro of Team ColoQuick (who had caught up with them shortly before), they are definitively absorbed.

At this point it is the sprinters' teams that enter the scene to best prepare a final sprint where, after the ugly crash 400 meters from the line (among those involved Ben Oliver of Modern Adventure and Dario Igor Belletta of Polti VisitMalta, both of whom later reached the finish on their own), a surprising Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen finds the right opening: the Dane, who has only won in his career in the road race at the national championships two years ago, passes in one fell swoop Walscheid, Crabbe (at his best result of this week of racing) and Lonardi (at his second fourth place in four days) thus obtaining, in the final act of the home race, his second professional victory.

Speaking of victories, with that in the general classification, those of Wout van Aert rise to 57, who, without taking unnecessary risks in the sprint (where anyway, closing eleventh, he ended up putting his seal on the points classification as well), closes the superb week of racing in Danish territory wearing the blue jersey on the highest step of the podium ahead of the always-placed Kubiš (who arrived with the three second places of these last days at 17 in two seasons as a pro) and the best young rider Henrik Pedersen, good at fighting and obtaining the first top 3 in the general classification of a stage race among the big names of the pedal.

FINISHING ORDER

1. Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen (Denmark) 2:30:01

2. Max Walscheid (Lidl - Trek) s.t.

3. Tom Crabbe (Team Flanders - Baloise) s.t.

4. Giovanni Lonardi (Team Polti VisitMalta) s.t.

5. Riley Sheehan (NSN Cycling Team) s.t.

6. Henrik Pedersen (Uno-X Mobility) s.t.

7. Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Premier Tech) s.t.

8. Nils Eekhoff (Team Picnic PostNL) s.t.

9. Stian Rosenlund (AIRTOX - Carl Ras) s.t.

10. Boas Lysgaard (BHS - PL Beton Bornholm) s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) 19:22:23

2. Lukáš Kubiš (Unibet Rose Rockets) +0:21

3. Henrik Pedersen (Uno-X Mobility) +0:28

4. Christophe Laporte (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:29

5. Pier-André Côté (NSN Cycling Team) +0:45

6. Matyáš Kopecký (Unibet Rose Rockets) +1:03

7. Tomáš Kopecký (Unibet Rose Rockets) +1:06

8. Francisco Muñoz (Team Polti VisitMalta) +1:26

9. Søren Kragh Andersen (Lidl - Trek) +1:43

10. William Blume Levy (Uno-X Mobility) +2:04

OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS

Points classification: Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)

Mountain classification: Aksel Bech Skot-Hansen (Give Steel)

Best young rider classification: Henrik Pedersen (Uno-X Mobility)

Photo credit: PostNord Tour of Denmark