Tour of Denmark: Wout van Aert scores hat-trick on stage 3 with a win on wet and wild queen stage

Wout Van Aert celebrates winning the 3rd stage of Tour of Norway.

Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) extended his lead in the Tour of Denmark with a third consecutive stage victory on a rainy stage 3 to Vejle.

The Belgian powered away from challenger Lukaš Kubiš (Unibet Rose Rockets) on the uphill run, while his teammate Christophe Laporte trailed for third on the stage.

The victory gives Van Aert a 20-second lead over Kubiš in the general classification.

Van Aert said he intended to set up Laporte for the stage win but ended up taking out the victory himself instead.

"Christophe and I agreed during the second local lap to open up the race," Van Aert said. "I was really on my limit at that point. In the final local lap, we mainly wanted to secure the GC and, if possible, go for the stage win with Christophe. We had different options depending on who still had the best legs."

As Van Aert wound up the pace inside the final kilometre, however, Laporte was unable to follow.

"I thought Christophe was still on my wheel, but through the radio I heard that I had created a gap. At that moment, I had to keep going and go for my own chance.

"Winning three stages in a row is something I have never experienced before. It is a new experience and it's really cool. We are in a good position in the GC, but we still have competitors. We need to stay sharp for everything that comes our way in the next few days."

After a standard early breakaway, the stage really began to heat up with 60km to go after the move was down to just one rider, Andreas Stockbro (ColoQuick) and within a minute of the chasing peloton.

Visma-Lease a Bike put in a huge surge of pace to try and split up the field with 57km to go, but Ashlin Barry slid out in a roundabout as he was leading the charge, forcing Van Aert to go off-roading to avoid the fall. The race leader got back underway quickly after changing bikes with Menno Huising.

Then, as the gap to Stockbro came down further, Matyas Kopecky (Unibet Rose Rockets), Marcus Hansen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm) and William Blume Levy (Uno-X Mobility) came across with 48km to go to breathe new life into the breakaway.

The leaders were finally caught with 20km to go, and Visma-Lease a Bike again surged, this time using a small climb to cause splits throughout the peloton before Van Aert made his move with 17km to go.

Van Aert was joined by sprint rival Lukaš Kubiš (Unibet Rose Rockets). They were joined by Uno-X Mobility rider Alexander Kamp and Van Aert's teammate Laporte with 13.5km to go.

At the start of the final lap, six more riders made it across: Søren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek), Pier-André Côté (NSN), Levy and Henrik Pedersen (Uno-X), Francisco Muñoz (Polti-VisitMalta) and Matyaš Kopecký (Unibet).

Uno-X Mobility led into the final kilometre but Van Aert accelerated past them with Kubiš on his wheel and Laporte right behind. Kubiš kicked past the Belgian but as Laporte faded, Van Aert surged again and soloed to another stage win.

Results

Stage 3

Place	Full Name (Team)	Diff
1	Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	4:55:17
2	Lukas Kubis (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:00:02
3	Christophe Laporte (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:00:04
4	Henrik Pedersen (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:00:04
5	Søren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek)	+0:00:08
6	Francisco Muñoz (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:00:12
7	Pier-André Côté (NSN Cycling Team)	+0:00:14
8	Tomas Kopecky (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:00:15
9	Matyas Kopecky (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:00:21
10	Alexander Kamp (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:00:26
11	William Levy Blume (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:00:35
12	Andreas Stokbro Nielsen (Team Coloquick)	+0:00:39
13	Riley Sheehan (NSN Cycling Team)	+0:00:49
14	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen (Denmark)	+0:01:40
15	Dario Belletta (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:01:40
16	Toon Aerts (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:01:40
17	Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:01:40
18	Teodor De Luca (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:01:40
19	Luca Paletti (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:01:40
20	Filippo Ridolfo (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:01:40
21	Menno Huising (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:01:40
22	Luca Cretti (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:01:43
23	Santiago Ferraro (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:01:43
24	Wessel Mouris (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:01:43
25	Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl-Trek)	+0:01:43
26	Marcin Budzinski (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:01:43
27	Henri Uhlig (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:01:49
28	Matias Malmberg (Swatt Club)	+0:01:51
29	Marcus Sander Hansen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:01:59
30	Lorenzo Masciarelli (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:01:59
31	Axel Källberg (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:01:59
32	Jonas Geens (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:01:59
33	Niklas Behrens (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:02:02
34	Michiel Lambrecht (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:02:17
35	Matys Grisel (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:03:09
36	Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:05:07
37	Carl-Frederik Bévort (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:05:07
38	Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:05:07
39	Noah Lindholm (Denmark)	+0:05:27
40	Filippo Turconi (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:05:27
41	Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:05:27
42	Rick Versloot (Team Picnic PostNL)	+0:05:27
43	Patrick Frydkjær (Lidl-Trek)	+0:05:27
44	Pietro Mattio (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:05:27
45	Martijn Rasenberg (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:05:27
46	Ferre Geeraerts (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:05:32
47	Mirco Maestri (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:05:42
48	Manuel Oioli (Swatt Club)	+0:05:42
49	Storm Ingebrigtsen (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:05:44
50	Pelle Køster (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:05:44
51	Gabriele Raccagni (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:05:52
52	Sébastien Grignard (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:05:52
53	Giovanni Lonardi (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:06:01
54	Rory Townsend (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:06:07
55	Mads Landbo (Team Coloquick)	+0:06:17
56	Morten Nørtoft (Team Coloquick)	+0:06:17
57	Lionel Taminiaux (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:06:27
58	Gustav Wang (Denmark)	+0:06:59
59	Kasper Andersen (Swatt Club)	+0:07:04
60	Frank Aron Ragilo (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:07:47
61	Felix Ørn-Kristoff (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:08:39
62	Dillon Corkery (Team Picnic PostNL)	+0:09:59
63	Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek)	+0:09:59
64	Mathieu Kockelmann (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:11:36
65	Robin Carpenter (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:12:33
66	Asger Røjbek Sørensen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:12:33
67	Gustav Thompson (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:12:33
68	Mathias Sunekær Norsgaard (Lidl-Trek)	+0:12:33
69	Antonio Polga (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:12:33
70	Marco Manenti (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:12:33
71	Mads Andersen (Swatt Club)	+0:12:33
72	Francesco Carollo (Swatt Club)	+0:12:33
73	Juan Jose Lopez (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:12:33
74	Sam Brand (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:12:36
75	Nikolaj Mengel (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:12:44
76	Jonas Kind Høydahl (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:12:56
77	Casper van Uden (Team Picnic PostNL)	+0:12:56
78	Casper Pedersen (Denmark)	+0:12:56
79	Joshua Gudnitz (Team Coloquick)	+0:12:56
80	Milan Menten (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:13:16
81	Ashlin Barry (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:14:03
82	Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:14:21
83	Simon Bak (Team Give Steel)	+0:14:31
84	Márk Valent (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:14:31
85	Nick Schultz (NSN Cycling Team)	+0:14:31
86	Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek)	+0:14:31
87	Nicolo Pettiti (Swatt Club)	+0:14:31
88	Hjalmar Klyver (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:14:31
89	Emil Schandorff Iwersen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:14:31
90	Scott McGill (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:14:58
91	Sebastian Nielsen (Team Coloquick)	+0:15:00
92	Henri Vandenabeele (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:15:00
93	Noah Vandenbranden (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:15:00
94	Theodor Clemmensen (Denmark)	+0:15:06
95	Lucca Bennetzen (Team Give Steel)	+0:15:22
96	Sylvester Vittinghus Stokbro (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:15:39
97	Ezra Caudell (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:16:29
98	Tyler Stites (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:16:29
99	Aksel Bech Skot-Hansen (Team Give Steel)	+0:17:15
100	Anders Foldager (Denmark)	+0:17:15
101	Declan Irvine (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:19:08
102	Andreas Brandt Aidel (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:19:19
103	Boas Lysgaard (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:19:19
104	Kiaan Watts (NSN Cycling Team)	+0:19:19
105	Bailey McDonald (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:19:19
106	Samuele Zoccarato (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:19:26
107	Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:19:26
108	Stian Rosenlund (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:19:26
109	Enrico Zanoncello (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:19:26
110	Aidan Buttigieg (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:19:26
111	Lucas Maarfelt Toftemark (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:19:35
112	Tommaso Bessega (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:19:35
113	Christian Bagatin (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:19:35
114	Ville Merlöv (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:19:35
115	Nils Eekhoff (Team Picnic PostNL)	+0:19:35
116	Alfred Mørch Kongstad (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:19:35
117	Thom van der Werff (Team Picnic PostNL)	+0:19:56
118	Brem Deman (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:19:56
119	Tom Crabbe (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:19:56
120	Kasper Jul Øhlenschlæger (Team Give Steel)	+0:19:56
121	Gustav Frederik Dahl (Team Give Steel)	+0:19:56
122	Lindsay De Vylder (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:23:11
123	Christopher Juul-Jensen (Denmark)	+0:23:11
124	Ben Oliver (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:23:11
125	Paul Wright (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:23:11
126	Johan Price-Pejtersen (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:23:11
127	Oliver Søndergaard (Team Give Steel)	+0:23:11
128	Karl Kurits (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:26:56
129	Hugo Scala Jr (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:30:22
DNF	Thor Vangsø Nielsen (Airtox-Carl Ras)	—
DNF	Alessio Martinelli (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	—
DNF	Joel Mellby (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	—
DNF	Marton Dina (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	—
DNF	Dion Smith (NSN Cycling Team)	—
DNF	Conrad Haugsted (Team Coloquick)	—
DNF	Otto Schultz Jølving (Team Coloquick)	—
DNF	Marius Hobolth (Team Give Steel)	—

General Classification after stage 3

Place	Full Name (Team)	Diff
1	Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	13:05:17
2	Lukas Kubis (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:00:20
3	Christophe Laporte (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:00:30
4	Henrik Pedersen (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:00:30
5	Søren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek)	+0:00:38
6	Pier-André Côté (NSN Cycling Team)	+0:00:44
7	Tomas Kopecky (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:00:45
8	Francisco Muñoz (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:00:59
9	Matyas Kopecky (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:01:05
10	Alexander Kamp (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:01:13
11	William Levy Blume (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:01:21
12	Andreas Stokbro Nielsen (Team Coloquick)	+0:01:23
13	Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl-Trek)	+0:02:13
14	Toon Aerts (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:02:23
15	Filippo Ridolfo (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:02:27
16	Dario Belletta (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:02:27
17	Teodor De Luca (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:02:27
18	Luca Paletti (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:02:27
19	Niklas Larsen (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:02:27
20	Menno Huising (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:02:27
21	Santiago Ferraro (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:02:30
22	Matias Malmberg (Swatt Club)	+0:02:33
23	Riley Sheehan (NSN Cycling Team)	+0:02:41
24	Marcus Sander Hansen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:02:44
25	Jonas Geens (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:02:46
26	Luca Cretti (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:03:03
27	Michiel Lambrecht (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:03:04
28	Matys Grisel (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:03:56
29	Rasmus Søjberg Pedersen (Denmark)	+0:04:36
30	Axel Källberg (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:04:42
31	Henri Uhlig (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:05:18
32	Marcin Budzinski (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:05:21
33	Lorenzo Masciarelli (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:05:28
34	Wessel Mouris (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:05:51
35	Carl-Frederik Bévort (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:05:54
36	Niklas Behrens (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:06:07
37	Jensen Plowright (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:06:08
38	Filippo Turconi (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:06:14
39	Pietro Mattio (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:06:14
40	Pelle Køster (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:06:31
41	Storm Ingebrigtsen (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:06:31
42	Sébastien Grignard (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:06:39
43	Noah Lindholm (Denmark)	+0:06:55
44	Morten Nørtoft (Team Coloquick)	+0:07:04
45	Mirco Maestri (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:07:10
46	Ferre Geeraerts (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:07:24
47	Gustav Wang (Denmark)	+0:07:38
48	Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:07:50
49	Kasper Andersen (Swatt Club)	+0:07:51
50	Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:08:36
51	Patrick Frydkjær (Lidl-Trek)	+0:08:56
52	Gabriele Raccagni (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:09:21
53	Giovanni Lonardi (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:09:30
54	Frank Aron Ragilo (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:10:24
55	Martijn Rasenberg (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:11:11
56	Manuel Oioli (Swatt Club)	+0:11:25
57	Felix Ørn-Kristoff (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:12:08
58	Lionel Taminiaux (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:12:11
59	Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek)	+0:12:59
60	Marco Manenti (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:13:20
61	Francesco Carollo (Swatt Club)	+0:13:20
62	Dillon Corkery (Team Picnic PostNL)	+0:13:28
63	Rick Versloot (Team Picnic PostNL)	+0:13:36
64	Casper van Uden (Team Picnic PostNL)	+0:13:43
65	Antonio Polga (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:14:25
66	Mads Landbo (Team Coloquick)	+0:15:11
67	Nick Schultz (NSN Cycling Team)	+0:15:18
68	Nicolo Pettiti (Swatt Club)	+0:15:18
69	Mathieu Kockelmann (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:15:22
70	Henri Vandenabeele (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:15:47
71	Joshua Gudnitz (Team Coloquick)	+0:15:52
72	Ashlin Barry (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:15:55
73	Juan Jose Lopez (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:16:02
74	Sam Brand (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:16:05
75	Sylvester Vittinghus Stokbro (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:16:26
76	Milan Menten (Lotto-Intermarché)	+0:16:45
77	Simon Bak (Team Give Steel)	+0:17:27
78	Emil Schandorff Iwersen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:18:00
79	Anders Foldager (Denmark)	+0:18:02
80	Noah Vandenbranden (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:18:02
81	Tyler Stites (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:18:21
82	Scott McGill (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:18:27
83	Rory Townsend (Unibet Rose Rockets)	+0:19:31
84	Sebastian Nielsen (Team Coloquick)	+0:20:08
85	Casper Pedersen (Denmark)	+0:20:13
86	Enrico Zanoncello (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:20:54
87	Mads Andersen (Swatt Club)	+0:21:06
88	Martin Marcellusi (Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber)	+0:21:13
89	Tom Crabbe (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:21:48
90	Samuele Zoccarato (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:21:54
91	Bailey McDonald (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:22:48
92	Ezra Caudell (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:23:18
93	Ben Oliver (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:23:58
94	Andreas Brandt Aidel (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:24:31
95	Aidan Buttigieg (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:24:38
96	Christopher Juul-Jensen (Denmark)	+0:24:39
97	Brem Deman (Team Flanders-Baloise)	+0:24:45
98	Aksel Bech Skot-Hansen (Team Give Steel)	+0:24:45
99	Stian Rosenlund (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:24:58
100	Kiaan Watts (NSN Cycling Team)	+0:25:03
101	Asger Røjbek Sørensen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:25:32
102	Nikolaj Mengel (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:25:34
103	Robin Carpenter (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:26:00
104	Tommaso Bessega (Team Polti VisitMalta)	+0:26:24
105	Lindsay De Vylder (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:26:41
106	Nils Eekhoff (Team Picnic PostNL)	+0:27:29
107	Lucas Maarfelt Toftemark (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:27:29
108	Boas Lysgaard (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:27:53
109	Gustav Thompson (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:28:12
110	Hjalmar Klyver (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:28:39
111	Ville Merlöv (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm)	+0:28:54
112	Mathias Sunekær Norsgaard (Lidl-Trek)	+0:29:26
113	Theodor Clemmensen (Denmark)	+0:29:55
114	Lucca Bennetzen (Team Give Steel)	+0:30:11
115	Karl Kurits (Lucky Sport Cycling Team)	+0:30:25
116	Paul Wright (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:31:09
117	Thom van der Werff (Team Picnic PostNL)	+0:31:10
118	Kasper Jul Øhlenschlæger (Team Give Steel)	+0:31:10
119	Declan Irvine (Team Novo Nordisk)	+0:31:31
120	Christian Bagatin (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:32:34
121	Erlend Blikra (Uno-X Mobility)	+0:32:55
122	Alfred Mørch Kongstad (Airtox-Carl Ras)	+0:33:02
123	Oliver Søndergaard (Team Give Steel)	+0:34:25
124	Hugo Scala Jr (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling)	+0:35:09
125	Gustav Frederik Dahl (Team Give Steel)	+0:35:10
126	Márk Valent (MBH Bank Ballan Telecom Fort)	+0:36:03
127	Jakob Söderqvist (Lidl-Trek)	+0:37:50
128	Jonas Kind Høydahl (Team Visma | Lease a Bike)	+0:38:03
129	Johan Price-Pejtersen (Alpecin-Premier Tech)	+0:38:53