Helsingør > Enkeltstart 16.1km ITT
The race ends with an ITT, the correct place to put one in a stage race. The battle for the title is between two teammates, Mattias Skjelmose and Mads Pedersen, this is going to be fun!
Route
All about power. There’s hardly any corners and some long straights, it’s a route for the specialists.
Weather
Nice day, it should be similar conditions for all. There’s lovely tailwind going out, but a horrible headwind coming back.
Contenders
Søren Wærenskjold – it’s a perfect route for the enormous Norwegian. He’s a TT specialist, a former under 23 world champion, and someone who’s already won a similar TT this year. Over 15.2km in the Belgium Tour, he beat Lampaert by 12 seconds, this is a very good yardstick for this stage. He’ll have two goals in this stage, win and move into the top 3 on GC, everyone loves a wee trip to the podium.
Mattias Skjelmose – his season has already been an overwhelming success, no matter what happens over the next few months. 2022 was a good year for him, but this year was all about making that next step, and he’s certainly done that. He won the Queen stage in Bessèges but was disappointed to lose the race lead in the final TT. That was followed up with a stage win in Tour des Alpes Maritimes, before a strong week in the Basque Country. What has followed since has been truly incredible. Mattias was 8th in Amstel, 2nd in Flèche, 9th in Liège, won a stage and the GC in Tour de Suisse before a solid ride for the team in the Tour de France. After that, it was over to Glasgow to ride his heart out for Mads, before coming here. I’ll remind you that Mattias is still just 22, his level of consistency this year has been very impressive for one so young. Now, can he top off a fine week in Denmark with the overall win? His gap to Mads is only 4 seconds, it’s going to be tight. He’ll also be in the mix for the stage win but could find Wærenskjold a little too hard to beat.
Mads Pedersen – he’ll go full, there’s no way he simply rolls round and “lets” Skjelmose take the win. Normally, I’d say this TT was a couple of kilometres too long for him, he suits shorter efforts better, but he’s got crazy legs just now. He’ll be going for stage and overall success; it wouldn’t be a big surprise if he walked away with both.
Josef Černy – he won the 6.8km prologue in Romandie, that will give him confidence for this stage. He goes out quite early, if I were him, I’d pack something for the hot seat. I don’t think he’ll hold on, but the podium is possible.
Logan Currie – he would have been really disappointed with his 8th place in the under 23 world championship ITT, he expected to be challenging for the win. Given the level of his rivals in this race, I think the top 5 is a realistic goal for the young Kiwi.
Prediction Time
A stage win for Søren Wærenskjold, with Mattias Skjelmose taking home the crown.
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