Frustrated Pedersen can do no better than fifth due to injury: ‘I’ve said it so many times already’

There was a telling moment after the finish, when Pedersen and Tadej Pogačar shook hands. “See you next week,” the world champion said. Pedersen congratulated him on the victory. “I don’t know what he did,” Pedersen said afterwards in the flash interview, having crossed the line almost three minutes behind the winner. “He won, congratulations. Congratulating him is the least I can do. Chapeau.”

A few months ago, Pedersen was still badly battered after crashing in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, where he broke his collarbone and wrist. “This was the best possible result. If there had been more in it, I would have finished better, right? I didn’t have any more left in the tank. We knew I would suffer on the climbs, and that was the case again today. It is what it is, it was solid. Now we look ahead to next week,” he said, referring to Paris-Roubaix.

With fewer climbs, Paris-Roubaix should suit him better. In Flanders, Pedersen simply could not go with the very best uphill. “It doesn’t matter now whether I was close or not: if you’re not there, then you’re not there. Whether it’s 10 metres or 100 metres. They were simply faster than me. I’ve said it so many times already since last week: because of the injury, I’m just missing that little bit in those moments. We saw that again today. But I still beat the rest, and they didn’t have an injury. So I can be satisfied with that.”

After being dropped on the Oude Kwaremont, the Lidl-Trek leader managed to get back to Wout van Aert. The two joined forces in the chase. “There was hope that we could come back to Remco. Wout was really strong; he had to wait for me on the Koppenberg. On the Kwaremont I knew I would struggle, and that’s where he really went for it. It doesn’t matter who you ask: everyone was flat out all the way to the finish.”