Due to the desire of many riders to join a leading group, stage four got underway to a fast start. For a short time, Lennard Hofstede was in a strong chasing group, but the peloton did not let them go. Eventually, seven riders escaped. The time difference remained minimal and partly due to a controlling Team Jumbo-Visma, the stage ended in a bunch sprint.

In the run-up to the sprint, the yellow-black train was well positioned, but Kooij got stuck just before the finish. As a result, the Dutchman was unable to sprint. Laporte did a strong lead-out but fell silent and finished tenth. The 29-year-old Frenchman remains second in the general classification, in the same time as leader Magnus Sheffield. Tomorrow, the peloton concludes the Tour of Denmark with a hilly stage.

“In the sprint, it didn’t quite go as hoped”, sports director Marc Reef said. “Today, we saw that details are essential. If one link doesn’t do what is required, making things right in such a fast final becomes difficult. We took our responsibility from the start with Lennard and Gijs Leemreize. In the final, Christophe and Olav arrived in the front during the last lap when there was an attack. That shows they are in good shape. The most important thing now is to try to win the classification. Christophe is two-tenths off the lead and we will do everything we can to turn that around.”