Mads Pedersen protects Tour de France green jersey in Bordeaux sprint: ‘Not my cup of tea’

Mads Pedersen may not be a pure sprinter, but the Dane remains the green jersey wearer at the 2026 Tour de France. Winning the points classification is the major objective for the Lidl-Trek rider, which meant he still had plenty of work to do during Friday’s flat stage to Bordeaux. Pedersen finished ninth in the bunch sprint, but was more than satisfied with the points he collected.

Pedersen had already made an excellent start to the Tour by winning Stage 4. That victory also provided the foundation for his lead in the points classification. Wearing green, he started Stage 7 with a 75-point advantage over his nearest rival, XDS Astana’s Max Kanter.

There were plenty more points available on the almost completely flat road to Bordeaux, beginning with the intermediate sprint. “I think that went pretty well,” Pedersen said afterwards. “I managed to take a nice third place in the intermediate sprint and collect 16 valuable points compared with my rivals, especially Biniam Girmay and Jasper Philipsen,” he explained during the Tour organisers’ broadcast.

The bunch sprint at the finish still had to be negotiated. Pedersen believed only a tiny margin separated most of the leading riders, meaning a slightly different outcome could easily have moved him several places higher. “The intermediate sprint went quite well, and the final sprint too,” Pedersen said. “There was just half a wheel between second and tenth place, so I could have finished fifth as well. In the end, it was a decent result.”

“The positioning was very difficult and chaotic,” the Dane explained. “I finished ninth in the bunch sprint, which is not the result I was aiming for in terms of winning the stage, but it was a good result for the green jersey. My legs still feel good after the mountains, and there is a long way to go before Paris.”

Pedersen collected 36 points across the stage and continues to lead the Tour de France points classification. Girmay, riding for NSN, has moved into second place but remains 59 points behind the Dane. “I still have to look at the exact numbers, but I think I didn’t lose too much of my advantage in the points classification,” Pedersen concluded. “These bunch sprints aren’t my cup of tea, so I’m pretty satisfied with the outcome.”