"I knew we had to be at the front" - Soren Waerenskjold's tactical masterclass to win in Denmark

Scandivian cyclists continue to control the course of action at the Tour of Denmark. After Mads Pedersen's victory in opening stage, Norwegian sprinter Soren Waerenskjold left no room for doubts in a technical sprint in Gladsaxe and scored his first victory since Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in February.

"It was chaotic, as we expected," the stage winner said immediately after the stage on his team Uno-X Mobility's social media.

The arrival was not unfamiliar to Waerenskjold who used experience to his advantage. "I rode this finish two years ago, and I finished fourth. So I knew we had to be at the front," said the 25-year-old rider.

And that turned out to be the right approach. Together with his lead-out, the Uno-X train left the final turn in the first position. "But we were actually sitting too far forward than we wanted to be," Waerenskjold explained. Fortunately, he was able to finish off the job. "Luckily, I had the legs to finish it, but it was quite tough and things were going unexpectedly fast again after yesterday."

It was a significantly different story compared to yesterday when Waerenskjold was way off the battle for stage victory, finishing nearly 12 minutes off the back. In comments for Feltet, he explained what had gone wrong on Tuesday:

"I was completely gone. I ate something that made me nauseous. I felt like I was going to throw up on the climbs," said the Norwegian rider about the first stage on Danish soil. "And I also had a bad night, but this morning I woke up and felt better. I don't know what it was, because I felt really good in training for the race."

Third stage will offer a 14-kilometer time trial where the Norwegian has decent changes to score a solid result. However he fears that the Danish champion Mads Pedersen will not give anyone a chance.

"I think he has raised his level. You could also see that at the national championships, where he won. So he is better at time trial this year than in previous years. I just have to go full throttle and see how it goes. I put in some effort on the tempo bike last week, so I know it (the form, ed.) is pretty good."