Danish cyclist Breiner Pedersen secures narrow podium spot after tense sprint

The battle for the final podium spot at the PostNord Danmark Rundt intensified on Saturday's stage, with Danish rider Henrik Breiner Pedersen narrowly edging out Visma's star rider Christophe Laporte.

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I actually managed to stop to pee, so I got down among the cars. There I talked to Michael Mørkøv (sports director for the national team, ed.), who said it was really close.

Before the stage, Laporte held third place on countback, but the duel in the intermediate sprint on the fourth stage proved decisive. The decision was so close it took a considerable time to confirm. Breiner Pedersen recounted the anxious wait, during which he stopped to urinate and received conflicting information from sports directors before finally being told he had won the sprint by a few millimeters.

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Then I rode up and talked to Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Breiner's own sports director), who said it came down to the bike throw over the line.

This crucial bonus second means that if Laporte cannot reclaim the time on the final stage, 21-year-old Breiner Pedersen will stand on the podium. "It means enormously much to be able to stand on the podium and be in the podium photo," Breiner Pedersen said. "Finishing fourth is a bit like being second. You are the first loser."

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And then Michael Mørkøv came up again a little later to give dunks to his riders, and then he said the result had been changed, and that I had won the sprint. So it actually took quite a long time.

The final stage on Sunday is expected to favor sprinters, but Breiner Pedersen is focused on protecting his hard-won third place. He is currently seven seconds behind second-placed Lukas Kubis and 21 seconds behind overall leader Wout van Aert, who has dominated the race.

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It means enormously much to be able to stand on the podium and be in the podium photo. Finishing fourth is a bit like being second. You are the first loser.