We’ll follow the teams in chronological order to get to know the route. Aker – MOT is the first team to start the race.


The second team on the road is Rabobank, here seen in Copenhagen.


One of the favourites, Grieg-Maersk is the next team to race, seen already in the outskirts of Copenhagen.


They’re followed by Evonik – ELKO who are just about to start the Øresund Bridge passage.


Fifth on the road – and the bridge – are Tinkoff - La Datcha Team, another favourite for the podium.


Jura GIANTS are here with a wildcard, but are among the favourites nonetheless.


Team number 7 on the road is Moser – Sygic. The Øresund passage is about a third of the distance of the entire race, so it’s not just for the pictures you see the bridge that often.


The last team of the first group is Amaysim Australia.com. We use their passage of the first Checkpoint to take a view on the split times here.

1.	Tinkoff - La Datcha Team	24’53
2.	Grieg-Maersk	+ 3
3.	Jura GIANTS	+10
4.	Amaysim Australia.com	+ 17
5.	Moser – Sygic	+ 23
6.	Evonik – ELKO	+ 37
7.	Rabobank	+ 38
8.	Aker – MOT	+ 1‘22

And the organizers chose their favourites well, as those teams named by them are on the first three places until now and the only ones who are within a reasonable range to still have a chance for a podium finish. We’ll see what the times are actually worth when the next teams arrive at the first checkpoint.

Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska are the first team of the second third. They’re a wildcard team and already struggle on the bridge where two of their riders already lost contact. No surprise they’re found on the bottom end of the rankings.


ZARA – Irizar’s doing much better, contesting Jura GIANTS for the last podium spot until now.


Gazelle’s really struggling. They are only five on the bridge already, while their other riders are pretty much scattered all over the place. So don’t be surprised to see them somewhere when we have a look at the other teams. At least this guerilla marketing should please their sponsors.


And here is Menicucci being overtaken by Team Puma – SAP, who rank in the upper midfield at checkpoint 1.


Next on the road are ISA – Hexacta, although we don’t have any footage of them on the road due to technical difficulties with their TV Moto. And though that’s a shame in general, we didn’t miss much regarding the fight for the win as they do okay, but not much more.


We see King Power already after the Øresund Bridge, though the director couldn’t be bothered to not show the landmark again. Their time is pretty average.


Lidl Cycling’s management can’t be happy with this view. They did alright in the first part of the race, but Gee is already their firth rider to lose contact with them just approaching the second checkpoint.


Minions is the last team in our second part, they already show us how to ride the more technical last part of the route. They’re still in touch with the best teams at checkpoint 1, as shown in the provisional leaderboard.

And as we’re already approaching the second checkpoint with our little tour around the circuit, it’s a good chance to have a look how the first eight teams did in the second part of the race.

Not much has changed in the provisional ranking (apart from the time differences of course): Rabobank and Evonik – ELKO changed places in the backfield where Aker – MOT is well off the pace. Jura GIANTS lost some time to the two leading teams, thus making them the leaders of the midfield which further consists of Amaysim Australia.com and Moser – Sygic. But there’s been some movement at the top where the Scandinavians from Grieg-Maersk used their home advantage to take the lead from Tinkoff - La Datcha Team!

1.	Grieg-Maersk	43‘47
2.	Tinkoff - La Datcha Team	+ 7
3.	Jura GIANTS	+23
4.	Amaysim Australia.com	+ 30
5.	Moser – Sygic	+ 43
6.	Rabobank	+ 1‘14
7.	Evonik – ELKO	+ 1’16
8.	Aker – MOT	+ 2’34

We see MOL Cycling Team at the 10 km banner, already in the outskirts of Malmo. They’re among the weakest teams at the first time split.


cycleYorkshire gives us a last view at the bridge from Malmo. They’re just inside the Top 10 until now.



Binance is another team at the bottom end of the ranking. The tractor in the picture is nonetheless purely incidental.



ELCO – ABEA is exactly at the middle of the table at checkpoint 1.



EA Vesuvio was named as the biggest favourite by the organizers and they live well up to it. They set the best time for the first sector!



But Cedevita is well in striking distance with a third place, just 3 seconds down.



And Polar is among the best as well with a 4th place and just a couple of seconds behind.

And as we’re already approaching the finish with our little tour around the circuit, it’s a good chance to have a look how the teams in the middle did in the middle part of the race.

There are some smaller shifts in the ranking in comparison to the first checkpoint (most notable the aforementioned leader change and Team Puma – SAP climbing up to the final podium spot), but the general picture does pretty much resemble the one at the first checkpoint.

1.	Grieg-Maersk	43‘47
2.	Tinkoff - La Datcha Team	+ 7
3.	Team Puma – SAP	+17
4.	Jura GIANTS	+ 23
5.	ZARA – Irizar	+ 26
6.	King Power	+ 28
7.	Amaysim Australia.com	+ 30
8.	Minions	+ 32
9.	ISA – Hexacta	+ 42
10.	Moser – Sygic	+ 43

Aker – MOT (or what’s left of them) is the first team to cross the finish line.

No changes at the top, though it did get tense as Tinkoff - La Datcha Team nearly overtook Grieg-Maersk again! Behind them Evonik – ELKO gained some places while Amaysim Australia.com lost some.

1.	Grieg-Maersk	1h03’07
2.	Tinkoff - La Datcha Team	s.t.
3.	Jura GIANTS	+24
4.	Evonik – ELKO	+ 1’41
5.	Moser – Sygic	+ 1‘56
6.	Amaysim Australia.com	+ 2’04
7.	Rabobank	+ 2‘10
8.	Aker – MOT	+ 4‘02

We didn’t forget Carlsberg - Danske Bank in the previous part, we just needed a picture for this one. And here they are, 1 km from the finish. And that they are nearly finished is the best you can say about them, as they were among the last teams the whole race.

EA Vesuvio stays in front at checkpoint 2, extending their lead a bit. Behind them now is Grieg-Maersk who really did well in the second sector, in contrast to Tinkoff - La Datcha Team who fell to 4th. Given the results here, the fight for the win is between EA Vesuvio, Grieg-Maersk (who already finished) and Cedevita.

1.	EA Vesuvio	43’41
2.	Grieg-Maersk	+ 5
3.	Cedevita	+7
4.	Tinkoff - La Datcha Team	+ 12
5.	Polar	+ 12
6.	Team Puma – SAP	+ 22
7.	Jura GIANTS	+ 28
8.	cycleYorkshire	+ 30
9.	ZARA – Irizar	+ 31
10.	ELCO – ABEA	+ 33

Apart from Amaysim Australia.com falling further in the ranking and missing the top 10 spots, there’s mostly the same picture we’ve already had at checkpoint 2: Team Puma – SAP is now third and most of the other teams that recently finished are now on places 5 to 9.

1.	Grieg-Maersk	1h03’07
2.	Tinkoff - La Datcha Team	s.t.
3.	Team Puma – SAP	+16
4.	Jura GIANTS	+ 24
5.	King Power	+ 29
6.	ZARA – Irizar	+ 29
7.	Minions	+ 33
8.	ISA – Hexacta	+ 52
9.	Evonik – ELKO	+ 1‘41
10.	Moser – Sygic	+ 1‘56

Before the last teams cross the finish line, we already have a close initial situation with Grieg-Maersk ahead of Tinkoff - La Datcha Team on the decimal places. And it gets even closer as Polar takes over the lead by fractions of a second out of the picture! The director was distracted by the fight between EA Vesuvio and Cedevita for the win, sorry to the Finns! So we have three teams on the same time at the top before the two best teams arrive. And that’s not the only ‘s.t.’ we’ll see at the end result, as there are three other places that are only decided by the decimals (including the fight for 22nd between Aker – MOT and Carlsberg - Danske Bank).
But now for the big final:


EA Vesuvio is first to arrive at the finish and …



The last team is Cedevita. It’s quickly obvious they’re not able to attack the time just set by EA Vesuvio, but as the podium fight is so tight, everything’s from 2nd to 5th is still possible for them. They arrive and …

1.	EA Vesuvio	1h02’52
2.	Cedevita	+ 14
3.	Polar	s.t.
4.	Grieg-Maersk	s.t.
5.	Tinkoff - La Datcha Team	s.t.
6.	Team Puma – SAP	+ 32
7.	ELCO – ABEA	+ 37
8.	cycleYorkshire	+ 39
9.	Jura GIANTS	s.t.
10.	King Power	+ 45