Jonas Vingegaard remains in control of the Tour de France but another Danish rider took the limelight when Kasper Asgreen joined an early breakaway and then held on to win the 18th stage.
Vingegaard took it easy on on Thursday, sitting comfortably in the main pack as he protected his huge overall lead.
The defending champion leads two-time Tour winner Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia by 7 minutes, 35 seconds and Britain's Adam Yates by 10:45 as Sunday’s finale in Paris draws closer.
But this was Asgreen's day and he spread his arms in triumph after beating Dutchman Pascal Eenkhoorn and Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen in a dash to the line after a four-man break.
“Obviously the situation of our breakaway was not ideal. I would have preferred to break with seven or eight riders. It’s also one of the final stages of the Tour after really hard weeks," Asgreen said.
“I didn’t rule out the possibility of winning. My breakaway companions were just excellent out there. We all deserved to win because of how much work we put into the break.”
They were all given the same time of 4 hours, 6 minutes, 48 seconds after holding off a large group of sprinters behind them who left it too late. Star sprinter Jasper Philipsen missed out on another stage win and finished fourth.
After Vingegaard took full control of the race with some jaw-droppingly fast riding to crush Pogacar in the Alps, Thursday's stage offered respite to the main contenders on a flat 185km route from Moutiers to Bourg-en-Bresse.
Belgian rider Victor Campenaerts joined Asgreen and Abrahamsen to form an early breakaway.
They worked well together and after the first hour had opened up a lead of around one minute. The gap remained the same, give or take a few seconds either way, until less than 100km remained.
The peloton, after rolling along in the sunshine at a mercifully reduced pace compared with previous days, eventually stepped it up, with Quentin Pacher and Fred Wright setting a higher tempo.
Eenkhoorn was the next to attack and he was the only one to join the trio to make it a four-man group.
The peloton left it too late, and the leaders just held on to enable Asgreen to raise his arms at the line.
The huge effort took its toll as he dismounted and sat on the tarmac to get his breath back, before being congratulated by Soudal Quick-Step teammates.
“It means so much with the period I had this year since I crashed at Tour de Suisse,” Asgreen said. “I’ve come a long way, and to cap it off with a victory like this is amazing.”
Friday's stage is a relatively flat 173km route from Moirans-en-Montagne to Poligny.
