He’s ready for La Vuelta! Mads Pedersen dominates in Denmark and celebrates early

Last year, Arnaud De Lie won the five-day Tour of Denmark, but the Belgian rider from Lotto is not participating this year. However, the race enjoyed perhaps the best starting list in years: with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Fabio Jakobsen (Picnic PostNL) returning after injury, stars such as Dylan van Baarle (Visma | Lease a Bike), Magnus Cort, Søren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), and home favorite Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) were also there.

The riders faced a relatively difficult stage in the first race, with the Helligpeder as the ultimate judge. This climb (700 meters at 7.4%) had to be conquered three times, but before reaching that point, six men broke away. Among them was the best-known name, Julius Johansen. The Dane had swapped the colors of UAE Team Emirates-XRG for those of his national team this time.

Victor Vercouille (Flanders-Baloise) was also there. But the six were given little space by Lidl-Trek and Unibet Tietema Rockets, who set the pace in the peloton. As a result, the maximum lead was around two minutes. With 50 kilometers to go, the final showdown began as the riders reached the first climb of the Helligpeder. Would any riders be brave enough to break away?

Of course, and who else but Mads Pedersen himself! The Danish star put in a strong attack on the first climb and quickly put his rivals under pressure. It wasn't a complete breakaway, but a group of only thirty riders remained. Philipsen was very alert and stayed close behind, as did his teammate Tibor Del Grosso, who then broke away together with Danish champion Søren Kragh Andersen, also from the Lidl-Trek team.

Alec Segaert (Lotto) and a rider from Uno-X Mobility closed the gap, but the active Pedersen jumped up on the next climb and took the lead. However, everything came back together again, after which Kragh Andersen broke away on his own. Due to a deadlock in the peloton, he was quickly able to extend his lead. But the front-runners were still there. Kragh Andersen was unable to stay ahead, as the pack had grown again.

Once back on the Helligpeder, Pedersen went all out, with only Lukas Kubis (Unibet Tietema Rockets) following. On the windy plateau at the top, Pedersen's teammate Mattias Skjelmose managed to join them, along with William Blume Levy (Uno-X) and Niklas Larsen (BHS-PL Beton Bornholm). It looked like a fantastic group, and Lidl-Trek did a good job of disrupting them. Van Baarle, for example, wanted to close the gap but was unable to do so.

So the Pedersen group started the final climb of the day with a 40-second gap to the leading group and a 30-second lead over the peloton. Johansen was the strongest at the front, managing to break away with Magnus Bak Klaris (AIRTOX-Carl Ras). However, the chasing group kept their legs still. The lead remained more or less the same. This allowed the peloton to close in and looked set to make the connection.

On the flat, however, the Pedersen group suddenly turned on the turbo. They caught the chasers and rode rapidly towards the two leaders. The peloton, which had closed to within 10 seconds, suddenly found itself almost a minute behind. They were beaten, and a group of nine riders would battle it out for the victory.