Impressive Pedersen feels increasingly confident in the mountains with the green jersey: "Legs do what the head wants"

Pedersen was already highly active in the eleventh stage around Bilbao, but a day later, he went one better. From the 40-man breakaway, he was able to collect a lot of points for the green jersey. “It was a perfect day, especially for the points,” Pedersen said in the flash interview. “It could have been fourth place, but Campenaerts was also very strong. I think we can be delighted with today.” Pedersen's biggest rival, Jonas Vingegaard, is now 67 points behind his compatriot.

After a tough first week, in which the former world champion saw several chances for a stage victory vanish into thin air, there are far fewer opportunities in the mountain-studded second week. But Pedersen still feels right at home there. “I feel very good on the climbs, so it's more enjoyable to do days like this. My legs do what my head wants them to do.”

The fun will have to wait for now: Friday brings the stage to Angliru. “That's a different story, I'll be rolling to the finish there. It will be a different race,” Pedersen laughs. Saturday is also not a day for the sprinter, because there is another stage with 4000 meters of climbing and an uphill finish on the program. However, the second week ends with a great opportunity: the fifteenth stage may have 3000 meters of climbing, but the last half of the day is mostly flat.