Tour of Denmark: Cavendish took final stage - Arvesen overall winner

On Sunday Norwegian Team CSC rider Kurt-Asle Arvesen wrote himself into cycling history, when he became the first ever rider to win Tour of Denmark twice.

Since the race began in 1985 16 different riders have climbed the podium as winners. The first time Arvesen won the race was in 2004, where he took the victory ahead of Jens Voigt and Stuart O'Grady, and this year it was with Enrico Gasparotto (Liquigas) in second place.

"It's a great feeling to be the first to win twice, but just like the last time I won it's more than anything a team effort. There's not a lot of opportunity for attack, when we have such strong people at the front of the peloton. Matti (Breschel), Nicki (Sørensen) and I were equally strong and they could just as easily have won this race. In the end it was decided by the time trial," explained Kurt-Asle Arvesen, who never really felt the victory was in jeopardy during Sunday's stage.

"Hardly anyone has the strength to attack, when you have strong tempo riders like Allan Johansen, Marcus Ljungqvist, Anders Lund, Nicki Sørensen and Michael Blaudzun setting the pace in the peloton, so we were in control the whole time," was the praising comments from Arvesen to his teammates.

The final stage to Frederiksberg Allé was won by T-Mobile's sprinter Mark Cavendish with Team CSC's Juan José Haedo in second place.

"After all my bad luck at the Tour I am absolutely delighted that it all clicked for me here today ," said Cavendish. "I kept on believing in myself. I came close to the win yesterday morning, but I kind of let Chicchi take me by surprise in the sprint."

Cavendish’s team mates kept their belief in him as well, and after they delivered him to the front the ‘Cannonball’ was able to finish off the job with change: "Greg Henderson gave Mark the perfect lead-out, and he was able to win comfortably in the end – and that was in front of more fans that at the Tour de France!," said T-Mobile sports director Brain Holm, who was delighted with the team’s performance in his homeland.

Results

Stage 6

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile               4.05.17
2 Juan José Haedo (Arg) Team CSC                                         
3 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank                                            
4 Tom Steels (Bel) Predictor-Lotto                                       
5 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas                                       
6 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC                                          
7 Kenny Van Hummel (Ned) Skil-Shimano                                    
8 Rune Udby (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens                               
9 Jonas Aaen Jørgensen (Den) Team GLS                                    
10 Kurt Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC

Final General Classification

1 Kurt Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC                                19.49.38
2 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas                                    0.14
3 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC                                       0.27
4 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano                               0.28
5 Nicki Sørensen (Den) Team CSC                                       0.32
6 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Predictor-Lotto                         0.35
7 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Designa Køkken                               
8 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) T-Mobile                                                0.42
9 Lasse Bøchmann (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens                       0.45
10 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Intel-Action                                0.56

Millar British road race champion

David Millar (Saunier Duval - Prodir) won the British National Road Race Championships by overpowering fellow escapee Daniel Lloyd (DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed), with whom he had ridden for the last 80 kilometres in the race held in Abergavenny, Wales. Millar had jumped clear of the peloton in chase for the 10 riders who had escaped earlier and were leading the race. This is his 2nd victory this year; the 1st one was the prologue to Paris - Nice.

Results

British national road championships

1 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval - Prodir                4.04.39
2 Daniel Lloyd (GBr) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed            0.01
3 Gordon McCauley (NZl) Plowman Craven/Evans                  1.27
4 Hamish Robert Haynes (GBr) DFL - Cyclingnews - Litespeed    1.30
5 Russel Downing (GBr) Health Net Presented By Maxxis         2.25
6 Rob Sharman (GBr) KFS Special Vehicles                      2.30
7 Alex Coutts (GBr) Babes Only-Villapark Langemeer-Flanders      
8 Alex Higham (GBr) Rapha Codor                               2.33
9 Mark Lovatt (GBr) Planet X/Sports Cover                     2.56
10 Rob Partridge (GBr) Recycling.co.uk