2009 Danish National Championships - Men's Road Race
Saxo Bank's Matti Breschel adds another champions jersey to the Saxo Bank count. Chris Anker Sørensen &  Frank Høj join Breschel on the podium for an all Saxo Bank affair.

Twelve riders were representing Team Saxo Bank during today's Danish national championships in the town of Sønderborg. André Steensen, Matti Breschel, Nicki Sørensen, Anders Lund, Kasper Klostergaard, Lasse Bøchman, Jakob Fuglsang, Frank Høj, Alex Rasmussen, Chris Anker Sørensen, Michael Mørkøv and Lars Bak were to ride the 196 kilometres by going ten large and ten small circuits of a circular route in the southern part of Denmark to defend Nicki Sørensen's victory from last year.

The war took place near the Danish/German border from the very beginning of the race as a larger group with among others Matti Breschel, Alex Rasmussen, Frank Høj and André Steensen were represented. They managed to stay in the front until 128 kilometres where a trio of Jens-Erik Madsen (Capinordic), Kasper Schjønnemann (Team Concordia) and Chris Anker Sørensen (Team Saxo Bank) joined them as the group grew to 32 riders.

After 140 kilometres (56 km to go) Thomas Just (Team Concordia) and René Jørgensen (Designa Køkken) escaped from the front group which leading to a split in the peloton as the  chase strung out and snapped into chasing groups.

Several Team Saxo Bank-riders bridged to the duo. Once there the Saxo riders  immediately raised the pace in the group and with 26 kilometres left of the race only ten riders survived the pace and were in the lead group. 

Saxo Bank once again had the numbers with Five riders. Chris Anker Sørensen, Matti Breschel and Frank Høj said goodbye to the group shortly after with only Liquigas' Brian Vandborg able to latch on to the trio.

Ten kilometres from the finish line the quartet had a 50 seconds gap on the chase, at this point it looked that the winner would come out of the four; but the action wasn't over as another attack came from the Saxo Bank riders.

On the very lap Matti Breschel and Chris Anker Sørensen launched the crucial attack which left Frank Høj alone with Brian Vandborg who was forced to chase the Team Saxo Bank duo single-handedly as Høj dutifully sat on.

On the final hill Chris Anker Sørensen did what does best and tried to drop his team mate but Matti Breschel was simply to strong and on the finish line he put the icing on the cake after an impressive spring with numerous wins and today he made himself the Danish champion with teammate Chris Anker Sørensen second.

Frank Høj held on for third as he led Brian Vandborg to the finish for an all Saxo Bank podium with. Martin Pedersen (Team Capinordic) led the first chase group to the finish to fill out the top five.

“Our plan was to make the race as hard as possible all the way through to the finish line. However, we did not expect the front group to last very long and Chris Anker Sørensen joined the leaders very late on the course. But of course I can only be happy to see three Team Saxo Bank riders on the podium. They did an amazing finale where Brian Vandborg loses due to the general tactical element of racing”, said a happy Dan Frost after the championships.

Saxo Bank Champions
Sweden, Norway and Luxembourg
In both Norway and Sweden Team Saxo Bank riders won the national championships. Kurt-Asle Arvesen will be riding with the flag of Norway on his back during the Tour de France from next week after a ten kilometer solo ride.

In Sweden, Marcus Ljungqvist out sprinted Fredrik Ericsson in a very exciting finale. In Luxembourg, Andy Schleck took over the national champion's jersey from his big brother after a stunning solo performance.

Danish National Road Championships
Sønderborg. Results
196 km - 4:42:42
1. Matti Breschel (Team Saxo Bank) - 04h42'29"
2. Chris Anker Sørensen (Team Saxo Bank) - 04h42'33"
3. Frank Høj (Team Saxo Bank) - 04h42'42"
4. Brian Bach Vandborg (Liquigas) - s.t.
5. Martin Pedersen (Team Capinordic) - 04h44'17"
6. René Jørgensen (Designa Køkken) - s.t.
7. Nicki Sørensen (Team Saxo Bank) - 04h44'19"
8. Alex Rasmussen (Team Saxo Bank) - s.t.
9. Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil Pro Cycling) - 04h44'28"
10. Christopher Juul-jensen (Glud & Marstrand Horsens) - 04h44'34"
11. Philip Nicholas Nielsen (Team Concordia-Vesthimmerland Procycling) - 04h45'21"
12. Mathias Lisson (Team Kvickly Odder) - 04h45'24"
13. Allan Johansen (Designa Køkken) - 04h45'42"
14. Rasmus Guldhammer (Team Capinordic) - 04h45'43"
15. Jakob Fuglsang (Team Saxo Bank) - s.t.
16. Lars Ulrich (Team Concordia-Vesthimmerland Procycling) - 04h45'50"
17. Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Team Capinordic) - s.t.
18. Michael Mørkøv (Team Saxo Bank) - s.t.
19. Anders Lund (Team Saxo Bank) - s.t.
20. Troels Rønning Vinther (Team Capinordic) - 04h45'58"
21. Daniel Holm Foder (Team Concordia-Vesthimmerland Procycling) - 04h46'03"
22. Jesper Odgaard Nielsen (Team Stenca Trading) - 04h47'11"
23. Christian Ranneries (Team EnergiFyn) - s.t.
24. Lars Frydenlund Jensen (Randers CK 1910) - 04h47'14"
25. Andreas Frisch (Blue Water-Cycling for health) - s.t.
26. Ricky Jørgensen (Glud & Marstrand Horsens) - 04h47'20"
27. Nicolaj Foulum Olesen (Team Concordia-Vesthimmerland Procycling) - 04h47'23"
28. Michael Reihs (Designa Køkken) - s.t.
29. Morten Kruse Brink (Designa Køkken) - s.t.
30. Michael Kaiser (Team Concordia-Vesthimmerland Procycling) - s.t.
31. André Steensen (Team Saxo Bank) - s.t.
32. Niki Østergaard (Team Capinordic) - s.t.
33. Kaspar Schjønnemann (Team Concordia-Vesthimmerland Procycling) - s.t.
34. Michael Bjørn Johansen (Blue Water-Cycling for health) - 04h47'27"
35. Thomas Guldhammer (Team Capinordic) - s.t.
36. Lars Bak (Team Saxo Bank) - s.t.
37. Jacob Nielsen (Glud & Marstrand Horsens) - 04h49'15"
38. Morten Høberg (Team Capinordic) - 04h50'05"
39. Michael Tronborg (Designa Køkken) - s.t.
40. Jakob Bering (Randers CK 1910) - s.t.
41. Søren B. Petersen (Team Stenca Trading) - s.t.
42. John Kronborg Ebsen (Cycling Nord) - 04h50'22"
43. Christian Moberg Jørgensen (Team EnergiFyn) - s.t.
44. Jan Almblad (Blue Water - Cycling for health) - 04h51'40"
45. Thomas Just (Team Concordia-Vesthimmerland Procycling) - 04h51'42"
46. Jens Erik Madsen (Team Capinordic) - 04h52'36"
47. Lasse Bøchman (Team Saxo Bank) - s.t.
48. Jacob Kollerup (Blue Water-Cycling for health) - 04h53'43"
49. Thomas Vedel Kvist (Quickstep) - 04h54'35"
50. Thomas Riber-Sellebjerg (Team Capinordic) - 04h54'40"
51. Nikola Aistrup (Team Capinordic) - 04h55'57"
52. Rasmus Christian Quaade (Blue Water-Cycling for health) - 04h56'15"
53. Michael Berling (Glud & Marstrand Horsens) - 05h01'09"
54. Kasper Linde Jørgensen (Glud & Marstrand Horsens) - 05h01'11"
55. Daniel Vest Stenkjær (Team Concordia-Vesthimmerland Procycling) - s.t.
56. Daniel Vestergård Andersen (Team Stenca Trading) - 05h01'45"
57. Kasper Jebjerg (Designa Køkken) - 05h01'46"
58. Michael Larsen (Team Concordia-Vesthimmerland Procycling) - s.t.
59. Simon Lerbech (Team Concordia-Vesthimmerland Procycling) - s.t.
60. Mads Lilholm Meyer (Team EnergiFyn) - s.t.
61. Jesper Mørkøv (Team EnergiFyn) - s.t.

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