🎥 Fun in the gruppetto: Pedersen, Van der Poel, and Politt have a good laugh at the Tour de France

Mads Pedersen has been one of the race’s main entertainers throughout the entire Tour de France. He’s been at the front of the race, but certainly at the back as well. On Tuesday, Velon shared some footage of a joking and pranking Pedersen in the gruppetto: Mathieu van der Poel and Nils Politt, among others, had a good laugh at his expense.

The Danish rider from Lidl-Trek, who still leads the points classification in the Tour de France, had already secured his points in the opening phase of Stage 10 to Le Lioran. Together with his team, he stretched out the peloton and thus claimed the maximum points at the intermediate sprint, while Tim Merlier had already been dropped.

Van der Poel launched an attack shortly afterward, but—due to the pace set mainly by Politt and Florian Vermeersch—realized the futility of his attempt on a stage with 3,800 meters of climbing. In the end, the Dane, the German, and the Dutchman ended up together in one of the first groups of riders who had broken away.

Since they didn't have to worry about a time limit or anything like that, they had time for some fun. Pedersen did this by making all kinds of hand gestures while riding his bike, which made the others laugh.

Mads Pedersen leads the Tour de France points classification in the green jersey after nine stages and is targeting Paris despite a tougher new points system favoring pure sprinters. He vows to fight to keep the jersey, holding 268 points ahead of Biniam Girmay, Tim Merlier, and Jasper Philipsen.

Pedersen highlights key chances in stages 17 and 21, aiming to minimize losses through upcoming mountains and sprints after a costly recent finish. He won stage 4 and an intermediate sprint to Ussel, noting an effort near 874 watts. Reflecting on stage 7’s intermediate sprint, he credits course knowledge and timing, reaching about 87 km/h, and comments on Philipsen’s risky line near the barriers. Read more