Pedersen and Van der Poel fall short against Italian force: "It was them against us"

Van der Poel’s conclusions after the race were quite clear. "I made it a tough race, but Italy eventually caught up. That was to be expected, with such a strong team. There was a chance, but the gap should have been bigger," the Dutchman noted immediately after the finish in Hasselt.

Pedersen eventually got involved in the sprint and finished sixth despite all his attack attempts. "We did everything we could to make the race as tough as possible and to make it hard for the sprinters. Nowadays, they’re all so good," the Dane said in the mixed zone afterwards.

"I ended up doing well, and that's something I'm happy about. It was a messy sprint, but overall we can be satisfied with how the race went," he said on behalf of the Danish team, which also made several attempts with Soren Kragh Andersen, Mikkel Bjerg, and eventually Kasper Asgreen.

The fact that the group with Van der Poel, Pedersen, Danny van Poppel, and Christophe Laporte ultimately couldn’t extend their breakaway from the Limburg loop to Hasselt was a disappointing outcome for the riders. "We had a strong group and gave it our all, but we knew that Belgium and Italy would close the gap if they didn’t have anyone with them. It was them against us, but they won," Pedersen summed up aptly afterwards.