Mads Pedersen caps off dominant Lidl-Trek performance in Denmark, out-sprinting Visma rider Axel Zingle

The Scandinavian race had essentially already been decided on Saturday. Pedersen, who also won the opening stage, pulled off a masterclass in the queen stage to Vejle with a successful 68-kilometer solo attack, effectively securing the overall win for Lidl-Trek in advance.

From another angle, this final stage was also a special one: it marked the final professional race kilometers for Jakob Fuglsang. The former winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Tour of Lombardy, and the Critérium du Dauphiné bid farewell in style by joining the breakaway of the day on the stage that passed his former hometown.

Mads Würtz Schmidt, Marius Inhaug Dahl, Daniel Weis Nielsen, Mads Andersen, Filippo Rodolfo, Conrad Haugsted, Anders Vos Sorensen, and Mads Landbo joined the experienced veteran in the break. Meanwhile, leader Pedersen helped out in his own way, by not letting his Lidl-Trek team pull in the peloton.

As a result, teams like Visma | Lease a Bike, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Picnic PostNL, and Euskaltel-Euskadi had to join forces to keep the gap manageable. That pressure from behind began to affect the front group: with just over 35 kilometers to go, the first attacks started. But it was merely a delay of the inevitable. Fuglsang was caught a little over 20 kilometers from the finish, just before the riders entered the local finishing circuit.

That moment signaled Lidl-Trek’s move to take control at the front of the peloton. With 12 kilometers to go, Mattias Skjelmose launched an attack that shattered the group. Pedersen, Jakob Söderqvist, and Søren Kragh Andersen followed up, creating a trio up front. Only Axel Zingle (Visma | Lease a Bike) responded immediately, while Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Lukas Kubis (Unibet Tietema Rockets) were caught off guard. Eventually, Kubis managed to rejoin the leaders, along with Niklas Larsen (2nd overall) and Unibet Tietema Rockets newcomer Matyas Kopecky.

This gave us six riders in the lead for the final stretch... half of whom were riding for Lidl-Trek. On an uphill section, Pedersen attacked once again, this time dropping Larsen and Kubis. The dominance of the German-American team grew even stronger, and naturally, they played the Pedersen card in the finale.

The Dane launched his sprint from far out, but Zingle read the move perfectly and jumped on his wheel like a cat. Söderqvist and Kopecky also managed to come back, along with Kragh Andersen. The latter gave Pedersen one final lead-out, this time successfully. Zingle still put in a strong effort and finished a commendable second.