Mads Pedersen confirmed his legend status with heroic Tour de France chase after missing the day's crucial move

Mads Pedersen breathed a sigh of relief after Stage 13 of the Tour de France. The Dane had undoubtedly marked the stage as a key opportunity to solidify his lead in the points classification, but instead of taking the full haul at the intermediate sprint, he found himself playing catch-up. Jasper Philipsen claimed the points and dealt a significant blow in the battle for the green jersey. However, Pedersen also proved to be incredibly strong.

Unlike his teammate Mathieu van der Poel, Philipsen was part of the first group of 37 riders who broke away. Pedersen wasn’t in that group, nor were other riders from Lidl-Trek. Pedersen formed a group for a counterattack, but Philipsen had teammates up front and didn’t let him catch up so easily. At the intermediate sprint, the Belgian from Alpecin-Premier Tech claimed the 25 points.

"It wasn't ideal," Pedersen said of the initial situation, in which Philipsen was at the front and he wasn't. “We saw a large group break away and thought, ‘Okay, no sprinter, so everything’s fine.’ Then I heard on the radio that Philipsen was in the group. That’s when the real work began. We rode at full speed for an hour and a half to close the gap.”

How did the group of 37 eventually manage to break away? Lidl-Trek played a role in that as well. “At first, the peloton was taking turns at the front, but at a certain point, the pace slowed and a leading group broke away. We had to give it our all to catch that group again. It was a very tough day, though I’d say it turned out to be a good day in the end.”

That wasn’t the end of the work for Lidl-Trek, though, because after Pedersen managed to finish second in the intermediate sprint and pick up 20 points, he eventually dropped back into the peloton. There, Lidl-Trek had to pick up the pace once again to limit the time loss to the brave breakaway rider and potential general classification contender Tom Pidcock.

Thanks to Lidl-Trek’s hard work, Pedersen now has 377 points in the points classification, 41 more than Philipsen. Juan Ayuso did lose a spot due to Pidcock’s breakaway and is now in fifth place, 7 seconds behind the Brit. The intermediate sprint in Stage 14 comes early, before the day’s first climb. Ayuso will have the chance to continue his fight for the podium in the Vosges.