{"id":2072591,"date":"2026-07-31T10:18:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T07:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2072591"},"modified":"2026-07-31T10:18:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T07:18:02","slug":"video-tour-of-denmark-sprint-finish-so-close-between-wout-van-aert-and-jensen-plowright-it-took-10-minutes-to-determine-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2072591","title":{"rendered":"Video: Tour of Denmark Sprint Finish so Close Between Wout van Aert and Jensen Plowright It Took 10 Minutes to Determine Winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/photo-finish-van-aert.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n

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Updated July 31, 2026 11:32AM<\/div>\n
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Wout van Aert thought he\u2019d lost and Jensen Plowright was convinced he won.<\/p>\n

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Turns out, nobody knew.<\/p>\n

After one of the wildest photo finishes of the season, officials needed nearly 10 minutes to study the replays before awarding stage 2 of the Tour of Denmark to Van Aert.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a chaotic finale,\u201d Van Aert said. \u201cI had to launch my sprint quite early. Plowright suddenly came alongside me in the final meters, and as we crossed the line I genuinely had no idea who had won. I\u2019ve never experienced anything like this before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Australian appeared to have timed his bike throw perfectly after exploding off the wheel in the final meters in Skive. Plowright even celebrated as he crossed the line and even Van Aert thought he\u2019d lost.<\/p>\n

Plowright was initially declared the winner and even gave his post-race TV interview before officials realized the first finish-line image was inconclusive.<\/p>\n

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A sharper high-resolution photo later showed Van Aert\u2019s front tire crossing the line by a fraction of a millimeter to trigger the surprise reversal.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of Plowright\u2019s reaction, I was convinced he had taken the victory,\u201d Van Aert said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until we saw the photo finish that everyone realized just how close it really was. I\u2019m incredibly happy the win went my way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike some sports, cycling doesn\u2019t do ties.<\/p>\n

When a sprint is too close to call, officials turn to high-speed cameras capable of determining the tiniest sliver of daylight between two front wheels.<\/p>\n

After the verdict finally came, Van Aert snagged the second win in as many days to continue his comeback from an elbow injury that forced him to miss the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

The Belgian extended his overall lead to 14 seconds over Luk\u00e1\u0161 Kubi\u0161 (Unibet Rose Rockets) as the race heads into Friday\u2019s queen stage in a lumpy, Flanders-style course.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it will be a fair race,\u201d Van Aert said. \u201cThe strongest riders will make the difference rather than tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ashlin Barry is racing with the elite Visma-Lease a Bike team in his first European outing since winning the U23 U.S. national road title in June.<\/p>\n

Modern Adventure Pro Cycling is also racing this week at the five-stage Tour of Denmark to kickstart its second half of its debut season.<\/p>\n

Too close to call?<\/h2>\n
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pic.twitter.com\/ikYQSS9kGW<\/p>\n

\u2014 Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) July 30, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n

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Updated July 31, 2026 11:32AM<\/div>\n
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[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/video-wout-van-aert-photo-finish-tour-of-denmark\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/photo-finish-van-aert.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated July 31, 2026 11:32AM Wout van Aert thought he\u2019d lost and Jensen Plowright was convinced he won. Turns out, nobody knew. After one of the wildest photo finishes of the season, officials needed nearly 10 minutes to study the replays before awarding stage 2 of the Tour of Denmark […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-2072591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2072591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2072591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2072591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2072591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}