Mads Pedersen feeling the pain after crash as teammate Mathias Vacek eyes pink jersey on mountain stage

Pedersen’s crash wasn’t caught on camera but afterward he made it clear he had been among those who went down. “It’s not ideal. I crashed and that’s never easy. It could have been worse though. I went down at 65 kilometers per hour. That’s never good for the body and I can definitely feel it.”

“I saw a few guys crash in front of me and had nowhere to go. I just slid out. It was really slippery there and in a second I was on the ground,” said Pedersen, who was able to rejoin the race thanks to the neutralization. “The decision was made and that was fine. I had already told the team I wouldn’t sprint because I was in pain and there’s still a long way to Rome. That’s why I gave up on those 50 points too.”

“I want to race and win but after that crash I had pain in my right hip,” he explained. “I just wasn’t ready to sprint. It wasn’t really a choice not to sprint, I simply wouldn’t have been able to win.”

Friday’s stage heads into the mountains and Pedersen expects to lose the pink jersey. “I’m going to enjoy my last day in pink,” he told CyclingProNet.

Teammate Jacopo Mosca also spoke briefly to Eurosport after the stage. “We have to thank the organizers because they made the best decision for everyone. When it's this slippery, there’s not much else you can do. In Italy we call it Calco Capenatto, it’s like ice. They made the best possible choice. Hopefully Mads is okay,” said the loyal domestique.

White jersey Mathias Vacek also gave his thoughts. “It was a wild stage. We’re in the south of Italy and the roads here are really slick. At times it felt more like skating, which explains the big crash. I think I saw around sixty riders go down. We even spoke with other teams about possibly neutralizing the whole stage. If it started raining again in Naples, it could have gotten extremely dangerous.”

“The organization decided to cancel times and points, and that was the right call,” said the Czech rider, who will defend his white jersey and overall standing heading into the weekend. “Mads was hurting and didn’t want to take any risks, same for me. I saved my legs for the coming stages. Friday won’t be easy but I’ll give it my all. I’m in good shape and will try to go for the pink jersey, but that will be a tough challenge.”

Vacek, who has already shown strong climbing form earlier this year in Valencia and the Algarve, heads into the first mountain stage seven seconds behind Primoz Roglic and 24 seconds behind race leader Mads Pedersen.