STAGE 1: Herning - Herning 8.6 KM's

We start off with a technical prologue in the Danish city of Herning.

The first rider to set a challenging time is the Canadian, Tuft. He would set a time of 5'00 at the checkpoint and 11'45 at the finish, this is '5 faster than Ignatiev of NEM.

The best hope on the day, of the most successful team in TOTC history is Vermote. He goes through the checkpoint at 5'02 BUT crucially finishes ahead of Tuft, finishing @ 11'44.

The battle at the top is as fierce as it is close. R J van Rensburg of Semen Indonesia goes fastest at the first checkpoint with a time of 4'59 and finishes narrowly down on Vermote by hundredths of a second.

Rosseler proved why he was considered an outsider for the stage. He is just down at the first checkpoint but powers home to finish fastest at 11'43.

Credit Suisse may have bigger goals far away in this tour but that didn't stop Dowsett putting in a good performance to finish @ 11'44.

Grivko is the first of 3 possible stage 1 winners released by Iberia. He equals the time of van Rensburg at the checkpoint before..... finishing at 11'39. That time will challenge for a podium at least.

Repsol - Honda intended to spoil the Iberia party by releasing Rasmussen. He goes fastest at the checkpoint with a time of 4'57 before finishing '6 faster than Grivko with a time of 11'33. A great time considering the ever changing weather.

Bodnar did not disappoint for Festina Watches. He would finish in the top 5 on the day with a time of 11'40.

Durbridge , the stage favourite, is out on the course. He sets the fastest time at the first checkpoint of 4'56 before finishing at 11'30 to take the lead. A strong performance from Castroviejo and a surprisingly strong performance from Gusev are good enough for top 10 places but do not challenge the lead.

Only one man can stop Durbridge from winning and that man is his teammate and last man off the ramp, Millar. Millar goes fastest at the first checkpoint with a time of 4'55......

but he wilts in the latter half to finish 3rd at 11'33. Nevertheless it is a red letter day for Team Iberia with a 1-3-4. Congratulations to them on winning the first stage of the tour of the chosen 3.

However, with '20 bonus seconds on offer at the finish on each of the next 2 stages it remains to be seen how long they can hold the lead.

Stage Favourites:
******Duque(CRL) *****Fenn(MCD) ****Hunter(GAT)
***Cooke(AER) **Felline(CRE) *Forster(AVI)

A pan flat stage with one intermediate sprint and one KOM hill to fight for.

The early racing was frentic. Chainel, Chaoufi, Dempster, Vermote, Beppu and Saramotins put in numerous amounts of attacks in an effort to get into the break of the day.

The sprinters' teams of Carlsberg, McDonald's and the pink jerseys' team of Iberia made sure no large break was allowed to getaway. With 123 kilometres to go no one is out in front as we approach the sprint at Thorsmide.

Results of the sprint point with 121 kilometres to go:

Nothing happened until there were 93 kilometres to go and two strong riders attack to create a break. They are Bak of Festina Watches and Sieberg of Borussia Dortmund.

Results of the KOM point with 82 kilometres to go at Osterjerg:

Lars Bak will be wearing the KOM jersey on stage 3. The two man break reached a max advantage of 4'50 with 75 kilometres to go before Iberia started to up the pace, later helped out by the sprinters' teams.

Keizer of T-Mobile would attack out of the peloton to join the break with 30 kilometres to go. However, the sprinters' teams were too strong today and Burghardt catches the break for the peloton with 24 kilometres to go.
The remaining 197 riders are all together and no one appears to be suffering at all.

3 kilometres to go. McDonald's come to the front with Docker leading Bagdonas who is the final man for Fenn. This move really catches the stage favourite, Duque, off-guard and he ends up getting blocked in behind his leadout man Urtusan well back. (Far right in picture)

Bagdonas launches Fenn with still a lot to do, although many sprinters would bite your hand off for such a leadout. On the far left Duque is well back despite a big final effort from Urtusan.

The moment Fenn is launched..... He goes boom and I mean backwards fast. The other sprinters pass him and look more of a match. With 200 meters to go Felline leads alongside Cooke but both are tiring.

L.S. Haedo is coming up fast and when Hunter is finally launched he is faster than everyone......

IT IS A VICTORY FOR NEM FORSIKRING.

It really could have been 1 of 10 if not more. The fact is Haedo was in a good position and sprinted at the right time. A few more meters and Hunter would have been victorius. Lighart pops up for 3rd.