Pedersen (almost) certain of green jersey: "It would take something crazy to lose it before Madrid"

That's why Pedersen wasn't disappointed after his loss to Philipsen. “It's okay,” he said in the flash interview. “Now I'm comfortably in the green jersey. I didn't really have the best day so that we can be quite satisfied with second place. Especially since Alpecin did a perfect lead-out, ultimately, it was a solid day, and I earned some more points. It would take something crazy to lose it before Madrid.”

Philipsen's train was – as it has been throughout this Vuelta – superior to Pedersen's, who had to start his sprint early as a result. “I was getting closer and closer, but at one point I stalled. I opened up when he still had a lead-out man in front of him, so I had to do quite a long sprint. As I said, they did a perfect lead-out.”

Pedersen has not been very fit in recent days, which makes his second place even more impressive. With a 100-point lead over Jonas Vingegaard, it is only theoretically possible for Pedersen's compatriot to take the green jersey from him. To do so, the former world champion would have to reach Madrid, and to do that, he would first have to conquer Bola del Mundo.

That will be a struggle, but Lidl-Trek and Pedersen have taken extreme precautions to get to the top. “We have a third bike with us, the lightest bike we have. I can go very, very slowly to the top,” laughs Pedersen, who compares it to a gravel gear. “We only use that in the classics, but it's close.”