Colin Joyce launched a powerful sprint to win stage 4 of the Tour of Denmark, besting his breakaway companions in the final 100 meters. It was Joyce’s first victory since he won Rutland – Melton Cicle Classic in 2019. The man from Idaho was suitably pleased.
“This win is huge! They don’t come often in this sport, so definitely need to enjoy it. I’m really happy.”
The final road stage of this year’s race began with Rally Cycling animating proceedings when Colin Joyce and Nickolas Zukowsky helped to form the day’s breakaway. Their group of nine worked well together and at one point extended their lead over the peloton to three minutes.
Zukowsky was key to the day’s success, having helped propel the breakaway forward to stay clear of the chasing pack.
“This one definitely wouldn’t have happened without Zuke,” added Joyce. “He was absolutely ripping. I hope he realizes how crucial he was for this one. Break wouldn’t have stuck without his strong pulls near the end.”
The peloton looked relaxed throughout the day, only appearing to panic in the closing kilometers after a flurry of failed attempts to bring back the breakaway. As the final lap of the finishing circuit unfolded, the peloton was unwilling or unable to work cohesively to bring the gap down, and the breakaway urged themselves on to maintain a gap of around 12 seconds into the final kilometer.
It came down to a close call, but Joyce positioned himself well in the select group and launched a blistering sprint, seeing him go round the outside and over the line in first place.
“I trusted my sprint, so I really just wanted to make sure it stayed together so I could give it a shot. Just needed to make sure I was in a decent spot and didn’t get boxed in. I’m glad it worked.”
Joyce’s win marks a monumental day for Rally Cycling, with the team also finding success in the Volta a Portugal where Kyle Murphy won his second stage of the race, marking the most successful European stage race in the team’s history. This momentum hasn’t gone unnoticed by Joyce.
“The whole team has been killing it and it’s nice to get a win for everyone. We have such a great atmosphere and they’re all stand-up dudes, which makes it less difficult to be away from our loved ones back home.”
The final stage of the race is a flat individual time trial of 10.8km on the streets of Frederiksberg and US fans can watch the action on GCN from 8:20 am CT.
Stage 4 results
1 JOYCE Colin – Rally Cycling 4:22:44
2 NIELSEN Sebastian – Restaurant Suri – Carl Ras ”
3 SALMON Martin – Team DSM ”
4 KLARIS Magnus – Bak Denmark ”
5 VAN POUCKE Aaron – Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise ”
6 KRISTENSEN Mads Østergaard – ColoQuick 0:02
7 NIZZOLO Giacomo – Team Qhubeka NextHash 0:06
8 PEDERSEN Mads – Trek – Segafredo ”
9 CAVENDISH Mark – Deceuninck – Quick Step ”
10 MØRKØV Michael – Deceuninck – Quick Step ”
11 BOL Cees – Team DSM ”
12 MENTEN Milan – Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB ”
13 DE KLEIJN Arvid – Rally Cycling ”
14 VAN ROOY Kenneth – Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise ”
15 TEUNISSEN Mike – Team Jumbo-Visma “
