Tough racing weekend on home soil

Logically, the team came to the GP Herning – and its 16 gravel sections – with great motivation. The team wanted to fight for the victory, but due to quite a few punctures and an outstanding performance by Mathias Norsgaard, the foreseen game plan was not going to be executed.

It quickly turned out that Norsgaard was by far the strongest rider in the race. The Movistar rider participated with the Danish national team and took the initiative early on and in the end won the race with a solo of 65 km (!). In the background, Cedric Pries was the first Leopard TOGT rider to cross the line: 24^th

With the Tour of Funen only one day later, the team had the possibility to immediately take revenge. No gravel roads this time, but some hills – especially in the final – were the obstacles of the day. After the usual early attacks, Leopard TOGT’s Robin Juel made a move in the hilly zone and the peloton split into several parts. His move did unfortunately not stick and since this moment, the pace  never became easy again. Robin went again in the final, together with amongst others Michael Valgren, but again no luck for the 21-year-old Dane.

Despite many attacks in the late final, all stayed together. Since the preparation for the bunch sprint was very chaotic, the riders crossed the line with gaps in between them. Carl-Frederik Bevort was leading-out a teammate, but in the end made it himself as first to the line. For Leopard TOGT, Tobias Aagaard sprinted to position twelve.

Result GP Herning – 1.2

1 / Mathias Norsgaard (DEN) 04:08:44
24 / Cedric Pries (LUX) + 04:15
33 / Mads Østergaard (DEN) + 04:19
34 / Robin Juel + 04:33
DNF. Oliver Knudsen, Tobias Aagaard & Tom Paquet

Result Tour of Funen – 1.2

1 / Carl-Frederik Bévort (DEN) 04:17:48
12 / Tobias Aagaard Hansen (DEN) + 0:04
24 / Cedric Pries (LUX) + 0:05
43 / Robin Juel (DEN) + 0:10
50 / Oliver Knudsen (DEN) + 0:12
78 / Mads Østergaard (DEN) + 1:26
115 / Tom Paquet (LUX) + 4:51