Van Aert is now one second ahead of Lampaert in the overall standings. “It was a crazy day, but in the end we got the win. That was the most important thing,” said Lampaert. The Belgian was involved in a crash with Jakobsen a good 20 kilometers from the finish but fought back to the front.
Jakobsen’s stage win made up for everything. Two years ago, the Dutchman’s career seemed over. After a bad fall in the Tour of Poland when he was pushed into the balustrades by his compatriot Dylan Groenewegen, Jakobsen was in an artificial coma for a while and had to undergo several surgeries. After the fall, he only had one tooth of his own and had to have 130 stitches in his face.
Topic for discussion: Great Belt Bridge
Jakobsen is apparently able to suppress the bad times during the races. In the sloping finale in Nyborg, the 25-year-old stayed clean and was clearly the fastest. Before that, the stage, before which the crossing of the Great Belt over an 18-kilometre-long bridge had caused a lot of discussion shortly before the finish, had mutated into a real bore. The Dane Magnus Cort broke away with the Norwegian Sven Erik Byström and was the first to secure the first mountain jersey of this year’s tour on three small hills, to the delight of several hundred thousand fans. About 45 kilometers before the finish, Cort’s escape was over, Byström was caught shortly afterwards – and the final on the Great Belt began.
However, it wasn’t the wind that caused the excitement, but the nervousness in the field. After only a few hundred meters on the bridge, Lampaert, the winner of the opening round, was involved in a fall. Only four kilometers later, with the support of two helpers, Lampaert managed to catch up to the field, which was reduced to around 100 riders. On the second part of the connection across the Great Belt there was a headwind, which neutralized all attacks and finally led to the sprint final.
Meanwhile, the corona virus continues to cause nervousness in the field. Ironically, several cases were reported by Lampaert’s QuickStep-AlphaVinyl team. The sporting director Tom Steels was just as corona positive as the press spokesman. Overall, the number of cases in the Belgian team’s staff has risen to seven within a week. Tim Declerq, who had to travel home shortly before the Grand Départ in Copenhagen, was the only driver to have been hit so far.