"Everybody knows that if you attack early you have the motorbike" - Mattias Skjelmose benefits from late catch to win in Luxembourg

Mattias Skjelmose has had a rocky season, but into the World and European Championships, the Dane has found his best form and at the Tour of Luxembourg, he has managed to take his first victory since June and has taken over the race lead simultaneously.

The third day of the race in Luxembourg was very important for the overall classification, separating the climbers and puncheurs from the rest of the field and to thin down the group of riders capable of winning the overall classification into tomorrow's decisive time-trial. It was a difficult day with plenty attacks from several riders and a very high pace over a steep ascent that saw about a dozen riders only be in contention for the stage win.

Marc Hirschi tried to anticipate the competition, and the Dane knows why: "It was difficult for everybody, everybody knows that if you attack early you have the motorbike and Marc was really good he was really strong, it was difficult to catch him back". However, the Swiss rider was then caught in the final cobbled ascent to the line, with the chase group having a very high pace.

"Luckily Brandon [McNulty] started his sprint early and I could overtake him in the last moment". The Lidl-Trek rider had a very strong punch and managed to hold off Jordan Jegat to take the stage win, and jump into the overall lead of the race as Romain Grégoire was nowhere to be seen.

The Dane's victory is also very much due to the presence of Toms Skujins in the group, who helped on the chase significantly in the final kilometers. "He did super good in the end, we spoke about it, I said I wasn't feeling super and I asked him if he could win and he said 'no no we go all for you' and yeah, he delivered perfectly and I just had to execute it in the end".

The gap to Jordan Jegat is of 4 seconds but it's the 8 seconds to Brandon McNulty that everyone will have their eye on this Saturday. "It's going to be difficult having the leader's jersey TT suit is a big disadvantage but we're going to do what we can and hopefully we can win the race," he concluded.