Could the insanely strong Vacek have won it himself? "Maybe I was the strongest," says Pedersen’s super domestique

Vacek was very clear in the interview after the finish. "Maybe I was the strongest, but we had a plan with the team: we go for Mads again," said the 22-year-old all-rounder. The plan worked out great, as his lead rider secured his third victory in five days. "He did again a really great job. It was a hard final for him."

However, Pedersen struggled two kilometers before the finish. "On the last climb, he told me to go, so I thought maybe he had good legs and wanted to put pressure on the group. But then he told me to attack and go solo. In the end, the sports director told me he was still there, albeit at the back. So, I slowed down a little on the top of the climb to wait for him. In the last kilometer, I saw him on my wheel and was able to set up another nice lead-out."

It worked out brilliantly. Vacek had already done a lot of work on the final climb, but after the top, he also canceled out attacks from Damiano Caruso, among others. When Pedersen managed to find him again, the great time trialist took the lead again, only to set up the Danish sprinter in the last 200 meters for a fantastic sprint. It didn't come easily to Pedersen after all that suffering, but he got the job done. "He's a crazy guy. To suffer like this on the climb before and still do a sprint like that is amazing."

However, Vacek seems a little disappointed because he was perhaps the strongest man in the race. "It could have been my chance, but today he was my leader," he says of Pedersen. "When he says he can do it, I really believe in him. I'm very loyal to him and wanted him to win today. So it's amazing to see him pull it off. The Giro is still long, and I believe my chance will come in the next few days. We haven't even completed a week yet. It's already great, but if I can win a stage, that would be really nice. Then it would be an incredible Giro."

When will that chance come? Because Wednesday seemed like a great stage for him. Still, the team went for the winner of stages 1 and 3. "I'm looking forward to the gravel stage towards Siena. We'll see how it goes; the team has worked perfectly together. We'll go all out for every opportunity we can grab and every stage that suits us. We'll see what happens." That gravel stage is on the program for next Sunday, a kind of mini-Strade Bianche.