Is Magnus Cort’s clean sweep just the start of the Danish ascent this holiday weekend?

Danish interest in high-level tennis, football, ice hockey, badminton and golf too

Danish cyclist Magnus Cort, the cyclist who memorably raced through Danish fields last year wearing the famous King of the Mountains red polka dots, yesterday completed ‘the set’.

With his victory in the tenth stage of the Giro D’Italia, the 30-year-old has now won stages in all three Grand Tour cycling events.

Previously he had won four Tour de France stages and two in the Vuelta a Espana.

He joins exclusive company, becoming just the third Dane to accomplish the feat after Mads Pedersen and Jesper Skibby.

Can Rune set the tune for Ascension Day?
With half the race completed, there are no Danes realistically in contention.

However, elsewhere in the sporting world, the Ascension holiday weekend offers untold possibilities for Danish sport, with Holger Rune in pole position to get everything off to the best possible start.

He faces top seed Novak Djokovic at 13:00 today in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open, and bookmakers rate him a 5/2 chance to advance.

However, with the French Open due to start next Monday, defeat won’t be considered a disaster – at least it will give the young Dane a chance to rest up.

Football, ice hockey, badminton and golf too
Elsewhere, Danish victory is assured in the Danish Cup Final on Thursday, when FC Copenhagen play AaB at Parken. The action begins at 17:00, but there’s a good chance you’ll see plenty of fans in the city centre during the build-up. It’s a tradition they walk around a lot!

A fourth consecutive victory at the Men’s World Ice Hockey Championship would most likely assure the red and whites of a quarter-final place. The opponents are Germany and the game starts at 20:20 tomorrow.

Denmark are already through to the quarter-finals of the Sudirman Cup, a world championship for mixed badminton, so their game tomorrow against hosts and favourites China, which starts just before lunchtime, is a dead rubber. Victory, however, would give Denmark an easier route to the final. 

And finally, Denmark has a strong contingent competing at the US PGA Championship, golf’s second major of the season, which starts tomorrow. Check cphpost.dk tomorrow morning for analysis of the players’ chances.