Pedersen sees need to adjust tactics for Vingegaard: "You have to, when Jonas pulls tricks like this"

Pedersen, who has yet to win a stage, currently has 120 points, leaving fellow sprinters Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech, 111 points) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck, 105 points) behind him. In fourth place is Jonas Vingegaard: the Visma | Lease a Bike rider saw his points increase to 100 after his victory on Sunday.

With the kind of stages still to come, his compatriot could well be the biggest threat to Pedersen's green jersey. “If [Vingegaard] keeps winning the mountain stages, he will earn the points and the [green] jersey, it is what it is, but we won’t give it up for free and he can't also win every mountain stages. So we will see, we keep fighting," Pedersen informed.

“I have to scrape together a lot of points along the way when Jonas pulls these kinds of tricks, because it earns him thirty points in a stage like that. So there are also a few breakaways that need to be chased down to scrape together some points,” Pedersen told TV2. “There are a few stages on the program this week that suit me well.”

On Sunday, Lidl-Trek took the lead, giving GC contenders such as Vingegaard a chance of success. Giulio Ciccone, who is fifth in the points classification, was the only one to try to keep up with the attack by the Visma | Lease a Bike rider, but it did not last long enough. “I think he just went too fast. It was too fast for me. I really did my best, but maybe it was a mistake to follow him,” he said afterwards.

“The feeling was good, though,” said the Italian. “We really had the confidence to try it in this stage. That's just how it is. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it doesn't. Jonas was super strong today, but we'll definitely try again.” Lidl-Trek is still without a stage win, despite several attempts.