Pedersen watched van Aert win on last day of Tour in a "totally insane stage": "I had to see this one"

With Jonathan Milan as the leader for the sprints and Mattias Skjelmose as the designated leader for the GC, Lidl-Trek headed to the Tour de France. This meant there was no place for Pedersen, who had a fantastic Giro d'Italia. The Dane won four stages and ultimately took home the purple jersey.

Without Pedersen, the Tour went quite well. Skjelmose's withdrawal after a crash was a major disappointment, but with Milan, the team won two stages. Winning the green jersey was also a major goal that was achieved. However, in the last stage of the Tour de France, the Italian was unable to keep up on the climb to Montmartre, which meant that Lidl-Trek failed to play a significant role in the spectacular final stage.

And with Pedersen in the team, it could have been very different. The altered stage in Paris should have been perfect for the Dane on paper. “I hope it will be like that again when I return to the Tour,” said the Lidl-Trek star in the podcast Lang Distance. Pedersen turned on the TV on Sunday when the riders entered Paris. “I trained for the last few stages myself, so I watched the finals. But I really had to see this one, especially when I saw the weather forecast.”

The riders entered the French capital in the rain, which made the climb to Montmartre and especially the descent afterwards even more interesting. “It was an insane stage,” Pedersen said. “We knew from the moment they reached Montmartre for the first time that it was going to be crazy. And the rain made it a completely insane stage.”

Podcast co-host Jakob Egholm, who is a contender himself, thought it was a stage made for Pedersen. “You can see him in a stage like this, with all those climbs and the rain.” The Dane from Lidl-Trek agreed. “I hope so. I could do without the rain, but I hope they keep the stage. It's a really cool route, said the former world champion.