Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was the fastest in a chaotic sprint to win the new Copenhagen Sprint WorldTour race on Sunday in Denmark. The Belgian crossed the line ahead of runner-up Alexis Renard (Cofidis) and third-placed Emilien Jeannière (Team TotalEnergies).
On Friday Meeus won stage 6 of the Tour de Suisse, on Saturday he opted not to start the Tour de Suisse, was given permission to ride in Denmark and so jumped on an airplane to fill in for an injury-hit team. On Sunday afternoon, he won the hectic race in central Copenhagen.
Meeus, Renard, and Page were part of a chasing peloton that caught the attackers after a late crash, that involved Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), and which split the field inside 10km to go. The crash sparked significant disorganisation in the teams hoping to lead-out for their sprinters and Meeus took advantage.
Among those still in the front group of around 50 riders were also Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla), Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels). Groenewegen launched his sprint first inside 300 metres to go, but faded and was forced to settle for seventh place on the day as a faster Meeus passed him at the line.
“After six tough days of racing in Switzerland, I felt a bit tired, but I still had some power left in the legs. The final was extremely demanding and really hectic," Meeus said.
"Ideally, I would have been a few positions further up going into the last corner. But I also knew there was a headwind, and I hoped positions would open up — which it did perfectly. I still had a good kick, and I’m really happy I could take the win.”
How it unfolded
The peloton lined up for a brand-new one-day race on the WorldTour calendar at the Copenhagen Sprint, a 235.7km flat race that started in Roskilde and finished on technical city circuits in Copenhagen on a day meant for the sprinters.
Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Joshua Gudnitz (Team ColoQuick), George Jackson (Burgos Burpellet BH), Victor Vercouillie (Team Flanders-Baloise) and Mads Andersen (AIRTOX-Carl Ras) emerged in an early breakaway, and they managed to push their lead out to four on the pan-flat course.
Before they reached the first passage of six finishing circuits, Gudnitz and Jackson had already been dropped, while Plowright, Vercouillie and Andersen continued with a 17-second gap over lone chaser Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep).
As the fast pace in the peloton tore into the time gap, riders attempted to bridge across, and the front group reshuffled to include two riders from the original move, Plowright and Andersen, along with newcomers Pedersen, Cedric Beullens (Lotto) and Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek).
The break was reduced to four when Andersen was distanced, but the others pushed on and held a slim 30-second lead on the field led by Visma-Lease a Bike inside the last 25km of racing - three laps to go.
The time gap held at roughly 15 seconds for the penultimate lap until they were caught, but a mass crash split the peloton with 9km to go, causing chaos among the teams organizing their lead-outs.
Among those in the front split were sprinters Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility), Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla), Arnaud Démare (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Tobias Lund Andresen (Team Picnic PostNL).
On the final straight away, Groenewegen was the first to launch his sprint, but it was Jordi Meeus (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) who secured the victory.
Results
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