‘It did not matter who it was, we have been right here to win’ – Mads Pedersen and Lidl-Trek take in all of the strain at Vuelta a España to lastly seize stage victory
Even an hour after crossing the road and feeling the euphoria of victory on a Grand Tour stage, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was nonetheless fired up, saying it “did not matter who it was” up the highway on stage 15 of the Vuelta a España, right now was going to be his.
For a sport the place 150 riders line up at the beginning and 50 of them get an opportunity to battle for the win out of a breakaway, as was the case on Sunday’s stage to Monforte de Lemos, once in a while, there are days when a celebrity rider is just too sturdy for the remainder, and former World Champion Pedersen is definitely one in every of them.
Winless up to now on the Vuelta, when he was in all probability anticipated to have at the very least two victories now after his quadruple success at this yr’s Giro d’Italia, Pedersen replied “No”, and “I will not be comfortable” bluntly to the query of whether or not leaving this Vuelta with this inexperienced jersey and with no stage win will probably be sufficient.
Up so far, he’d been shocked by David Gaudu on stage 3 and managed three stage high 10s, however no win so as to add to the three he already had from earlier Vueltas.
4 hours of racing later and Pedersen had rectified that and was greater than delighted, along with his crew placing on a masterclass to get 5 riders within the early transfer and chase down a splinter duo who acquired virtually three minutes up the highway, earlier than the Dane then did the enterprise alone out of a closing group of 9 riders.
“It is good to lastly win. I used to be shut within the first week, and it isn’t a secret that I am right here to win levels, so perhaps it took a bit too lengthy, however we knew the form was there and confirmed all of it week,” stated Pedersen in his winner’s press convention.
“We additionally knew going into this Vuelta that we did not have too many alternatives because it’s a variety of climbing and uphill finishes. At present was one of many levels we put an enormous mark on earlier than the race began, so we undoubtedly wanted to win right now, and it is good lastly to have it within the pocket.”
The newest race content material, interviews, options, evaluations and skilled shopping for guides, direct to your inbox!
The Dane gave large credit score to his teammates that joined him up entrance: Carlos Verona, Julien Bernard, Giulio Ciccone and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, after they acquired him inside touching distance of Jay Vine (UAE Group Emirates-XRG) and Louis Vervaerke (Soudal-QuickStep), who’d attacked away with 118km to go.
Pedersen then surged himself and adopted a number of strikes inside the ultimate 30km to type a lead chase group, which went on to battle out the victory after catching Vine and Vervaeke inside 8km to go.
“It may be a UAE rider, it did not matter who it was, we have been right here to win,” stated Pedersen of the duo getting up the highway. “It was not a perfect scenario when Vine and Vervaerke went; they have been fairly sturdy, and it was actually robust for teammates.
“I had to make use of them up fairly early and spend every thing that they had, however this additionally reveals which you could’t win and not using a crew. But it surely undoubtedly wasn’t a pleasant second after they had greater than 2:30. In the long run, the blokes had a variety of energy of their legs and made it occur.
“It makes the victory even sweeter, the best way the crew labored the entire day. The boys labored so laborious to make it doable, so ultimately, it is even nicer when everybody was us, everybody knew our plan, and nonetheless we succeeded with the victory.”
Having made it into the group which might play out the finale, Pedersen’s job was removed from easy, along with his standing as one of many high riders on the earth, second-highest within the UCI rankings behind solely Tadej Pogačar, and the quickest within the break making him the goal of a number of assaults.
However he had the reply for each single one in every of them, marking out a transfer from Vine himself, rising the tempo on the entrance and losing potential power to make sure nothing too sturdy got here excessive, after which timing his dash for the road completely.
“There was no selection, I needed to comply with every thing,” he stated.
“I stored the pace a bit excessive so nobody actually needed to go, after which when [Marco] Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) went with 800m to go, that was excellent, so he would sort of do a little bit of a lead-out. I used to be closing him slowly, then after the nook, it was 230m to go and time to open the dash.”
Orluis Aular (Movistar) gave a very good battle within the dash, however after such a tough day within the legs, solely somebody with the Classics prowess of Pedersen may sustain that top a dash effort, one thing he is turn into recognized for and is probably going one of the best on the earth at.
With a stage victory lastly in his pocket, Pedersen will have a look at two extra, on stage 19 and the ultimate day in Madrid, the place, if he arrives safely, he ought to affirm Lidl-Trek’s sweep of all Grand Tour factors jerseys, including to his on the Giro and Jonathan Milan’s inexperienced jersey triumph. His lead, with simply six levels to experience, is already 98 factors forward of compatriot and race chief Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Subscribe to Cyclingnews for limitless entry to our 2025 Vuelta a España protection. Our crew of journalists are on the bottom from the Italian Gran Partida by way of to Madrid, bringing you breaking information, evaluation, and extra, from each stage of the Grand Tour because it occurs. Discover out extra.
