Purple jersey Pedersen tips his hat to Kooij and Visma | Lease a Bike: "Shows just how tough a finish like that really is"

At the start of the stage, Pedersen had already said that the best scenario for his team would be for the breakaway to stay clear. “For us, it’s mainly about saving energy. We don’t have much to gain in a stage like this, so the goal was just to get through it well. Daan Hoole and Mathias Vacek would still support me in the final if it came down to a sprint.”

And that’s how it played out. “We only had two guys for the lead-out, so it all came down to timing,” Pedersen told CyclingProNet. “I told the boys to just keep me near the front and I’d try to find a wheel from there.” He was dropped off at 1.2 kilometers from the line. “Vacek was still in front of me, but it wasn’t worth fighting too hard just to stay on his wheel.”

In the end, Pedersen did manage to find a good wheel and was able to contest the sprint for the stage win. “I was in a good position coming out of the corner, but I just didn’t have the speed to come around them,” he said, referring to Olav Kooij, Casper van Uden, and surprise third-place finisher Ben Turner.

“For me, it’s also nice to see others win. Of course, I love to win myself, but a finish like that suits Olav Kooij perfectly and he deserves it. It also shows how hard a finale like this really is. Normally you’d think it’s five kilometers straight and then you win with ease, but that’s not how it works. They executed it perfectly.”

“I can’t tell you too much about Wout van Aert’s lead-out, but in the end they got the win and that’s what they came for. These kinds of finishes are tough to get right, but I’m satisfied with my result,” said the Dane. Pedersen now leads the points classification with 177 points, while second-placed Kooij sits at 105. “I’m just trying to grab as many points as I can. Everything I do is with that in mind.”