Miguel98 wrote:
Great win and awesome report. Dude, I love this story and I hope it get's to the finalists of the awards.

THANK YOU EVERYBODY!

It's really nice to see that so many of you great guys are following the story of Puccio. It's going to be exciting to see if Puccio can use this win in his own favour, to develop into an even greater rider. First of all, it means a lot to his contract negotiations which is soon to be cleared. I think we'll publish that after the Post Danmark Rundt.

Once again. Thank you! Everyone who has tried writing a story knows how important followers are for the motivation. And i am no exception.

@Jesleyh: I'm quite sure that Eddy will win the GC, Puccio will at least do his all to make him achieve that win now

@Valverde: Exactly! I don't think it's any coincidence that his first win comes in Denmark. Some kind of god or something higher upstairs has ment it to be

@Ian: This surely opens a lot of doors for him. With the results he has had this season, he should be able to choose any team he would like to ride for. His talent is way obvious for the rest of the cycling world

@Banyai: I'm glad you did like the read I hope you'll follow as the story goes on

@Ste_18: Top 10 in one of the Canadian classics should be possible, pending on the startlist. Puccio peaks in those classics, so if he gets the chance, i think he'll reach his last goal

The morningbreak was quickly established with four quite unimportant riders, who were all looking to take the many mountain points which were on track for todays stage. The four riders were E. Chavez, J. Nielsen, S. Pirazzi and N. Zhurkin.


Todays weather was excellent for cycling, and Sky lay in front all day long. As the breakaway reached a gap of seven minutes, other teams also came to help chasing in the escapees.


With 15 km to the line, S. Pirazzi attacked from the other escapees in the frontgroup, trying to seek the luck on his own.


As the pack reeled in the other escapees, still chasing for Pirazzi, the many hills and the high pace made it hard for a lot of the riders in the back, causing many to fall even further behind.


Just outside the 5 km sign, Pirazzi got caught back in the pack by Kennaugh. Both Thomas, Eddy and i, was ready in front of the pack, preparing for the final hill sprint.


Eddy got to the back of my wheel as i latched onto the wheel of Thomas who rode incredibly fast in front of the pack.


As the sprint began, Thomas started out in front. When he had driven himself to the limit, i was to take over. I checked that Eddy was right after me, and started accelerating as much as i was able to do.


We quickly gained a fine gap to the other sprinters, as we both got under the 1 km banner. Now the hard part was to begin.


The road started to flatten out, and i began to lose speed. No doubt that i was way faster on the steep and accelerating section.


Then Eddy made his move! In tremendous speed he got past me in just a few seconds. I took a look behind and saw that the other sprinters was still a little behind Eddy and i. Therefore i decided to try giving my all to fight for the secondary placings.


As Edvald was nearing the finish line in lonely majesty, the other sprinters came incredibly fast up from the back. I had to give my everything to keep my pace high enough to keep them behind.


And Eddy did it! He took yet another win as Pedersen only just managed to overtake me on the line. But he was the only one who came up, and i was therefore able to take an amazing 3rd spot!

1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	4h21'02
2	Martin Pedersen	Christina Watches - Onfone	s.t.
3	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	s.t.
4	Daniel Foder	Christina Watches - Onfone	s.t.
5	Sebastian Lander	Glud & Marstrand - LRØ	s.t.
6	Tom Leezer	Rabobank Cycling Team	s.t.
7	Yury Trofimov	Katusha Team	s.t.
8	Petr Ignatenko	Katusha Team	s.t.
9	Andrey Kashechkin	Astana Pro Team	s.t.
10	Vladimir Isaychev	Katusha Team	s.t.

1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	12h59'34
2	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	+ 24
3	Martin Pedersen	Christina Watches - Onfone	+ 28
4	Sacha Modolo	Colnago - CSF Inox	+ 44
5	Sebastian Lander	Glud & Marstrand - LRØ	+ 52
6	Yury Trofimov	Katusha Team	s.t.
7	Tom Leezer	Rabobank Cycling Team	s.t.
8	Vladimir Isaychev	Katusha Team	s.t.
9	Rasmus Guldhammer	Christina Watches - Onfone	s.t.
10	Florian Vachon	Bretagne - Schuller	s.t.

1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	70
2	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	53
3	Martin Pedersen	Christina Watches - Onfone	45
4	Sebastian Lander	Glud & Marstrand - LRØ	28
5	Yury Trofimov	Katusha Team	27
6	Tom Leezer	Rabobank Cycling Team	22
7	Sacha Modolo	Colnago - CSF Inox	21
8	Simone Ponzi	Astana Pro Team	21
9	Takashi Miyazawa	Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank	16
10	Vladimir Isaychev	Katusha Team	14

1	Jacob Nielsen	Blue Water Cycling	13
2	Stefano Pirazzi	Colnago - CSF Inox	11
3	Enrico Battaglin	Colnago - CSF Inox	10
4	Kasper Klostergaard	Team Saxo Bank - Tinkoff Bank	3
5	Thomas Nybo Riis	Blue Water Cycling	3
6	Esteban Chavez	Colombia - Coldeportes	2
7	Jeffry Romero	Colombia - Coldeportes	2
8	Nikolay Zhurkin	RusVelo	1

1	Edvald Boasson Hagen	Sky Procycling	12h59'34
2	Salvatore Puccio	Sky Procycling	+ 24
3	Sacha Modolo	Colnago - CSF Inox	+ 44
4	Sebastian Lander	Glud & Marstrand - LRØ	+ 52
5	Rasmus Guldhammer	Christina Watches - Onfone	s.t.
6	Christian Moberg Jørgensen	Glud & Marstrand - LRØ	s.t.
7	Rüdiger Selig	Katusha Team	s.t.
8	Petr Ignatenko	Katusha Team	s.t.
9	Rasmus Quaade	Blue Water Cycling	s.t.
10	Patrick Clausen	Glud & Marstrand - LRØ	s.t.

I am riding on a wave of clear success! 5th at the first stage, 1st yesterday, and now 3rd! It has been an incredible race so far. The team is doing everything right today, and Eddy really made it look like a easy ride. His speed is amazing, and something has to go completely wrong if he's not going to win this race.

Tomorrow is a pancake flat stage, and i'll probably just have to take care of myself and rest as much as i can before the time trial at stage 5. We'll see tomorrow.