Pedersen forced to unclip twice and lost his lead-out after crash: “Damage limited”

The twisty, technical finish in Lecce only made things tougher. “Everyone was fresh and motivated to sprint today,” Pedersen said in his flash interview. “The finale was really technical and hard to manage, with all the narrowings and so many fresh legs. It was a tough one for us, especially with Søren Kragh Andersen crashing. I had to stop because of that, and we had to burn Daan Hoole just to get back. That broke up our lead-out train. But the damage was limited and we didn’t lose too many points, so we’re happy with the result.”

Along the way, the Dane who already won stages 1 and 3 picked up some valuable intermediate points. The battle for the ciclamino jersey is already heating up, with Olav Kooij also eyeing the prize. “Of course. Olav is going for it too and I need to grab as many points as I can, especially since I only scored 25 per stage win. Today you could take 50. Every point I can get I’ll go all in.” Pedersen currently leads the points classification with 83 points, 31 clear of his closest rival Kooij.

After the stage, Pedersen explained more to Cycling Pro about the improvised build-up to the sprint. “Luckily I didn’t crash, but I had to come to a stop both times,” he said about the crashes. “Søren was supposed to be the last man, so it was a shame to lose him. Daantje had to keep us up front through that technical part. Because I had to use him there, I ended up pretty much on my own. Vacek also had to burn a lot of energy. It was a tough situation for us, but that’s racing. I just hope Søren is okay.” Kragh Andersen eventually finished dead last, 11 minutes behind stage winner Van Uden.

That left Pedersen to do it mostly solo. “With 2 kilometers to go, I was in 40th or 50th position. I had to go all in, but I knew I could catch my breath a bit with 1200 meters to go. Still, I didn’t have the best sprint left in the legs. As I said, we limited the damage well. I had the space but not the legs. A sprint with fresh legs after an easy day like this isn’t exactly my favorite kind of finish.”

Along the way, Primoz Roglic managed to pick up some bonus seconds in the Red Bull Kilometer, the intermediate sprint where time bonuses are on offer. “That’s what the Red Bull Kilometer is for, to make things interesting for those guys. I wish them the best,” Pedersen said calmly. He doesn’t see it as a threat, since pink isn’t his goal. “Primoz is trying to win the race and grab every second he can. That’s totally fair, but I have no interest in chasing six seconds that way. Good for him, but it changes nothing for me.”