Victory number 4! Pedersen edges out van Aert in the thirteenth stage of the Giro with a brilliant sprint

It was pretty nerve-wracking on Thursday, but in the end, Olav Kooij sprinted to victory in Viadana after an incredible lead-out from teammate Wout van Aert. The next day, it could have been the Belgian from Visma | Lease a Bike's day, as a punchy and explosive finale was on the cards in Vicenza. However, it also looked like an ideal finale for the strong Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and the explosive Tom Pidcock (Q36.5).

So, after a nervous finish on Thursday, Friday also started with a lot of tension. Due to the wind and the great interest in the early breakaway, we saw a blistering start, with even mountain king Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana) briefly dangling out of the peloton. However, it didn't take long for nine riders to secure a place in the early breakaway: Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta), Sven Erik Bystrøm, Lorenzo Germani (both Groupama-FDJ), Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R), Chris Hamilton (Picnic PostNL), Filippo Magli (Bardiani), Fran Miholjevic (Bahrain Victorious), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), and Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).

The nine riders were not given much freedom, as Visma | Lease a Bike was there to control the race with the help of Lidl-Trek and Q36.5. The Killer Bees controlled the breakaway and rounded the two-minute mark while Fortunato rejoined the peloton. Bais then took the full three points in the mountain classification on the first difficulty of the day, after which we had 85 completely flat kilometers.

On those flat roads, there were two intermediate sprints, where the nine riders at the front indeed sprinted for the points. Bais won the first in Noventa Vicentina ahead of De Bondt, while more than forty kilometers later, the Belgian won the sprint ahead of Magli (second) and Bais (third). The lead of the front runners gradually decreased to less than two minutes with eighty kilometers to go.

The race suddenly took off during the run-up to San Giovanni in Monte—really suddenly, as INEOS Grenadiers appeared to have unexpected plans. The British team pushed hard on the steep roads and turned them into a battlefield early on. The peloton was quickly thinned out to a group of favorites while still fifty kilometers to go. After the thinning out, Thymen Arensman took the lead on behalf of INEOS. The question was why, given that the climb would be followed by twenty flat kilometers.

In the meantime, many riders had already returned, so we could once again speak of a peloton (of about forty riders). However, the damage caused by INEOS was considerable, as Wout van Aert, one of the favorites for the day's victory, had been dropped. Pedersen, on the other hand, was still hanging on and quickly rejoined the peloton. At the top, Germani, who had been the last rider to go on the attack, and Christian Scaroni (XDS-Astana) were the leaders in the race. The peloton, which Van Aert had rejoined, arrived fifteen seconds behind the two leaders.

The Scaroni-Germani duo set a decent pace, allowing the two Italians to pull away to a one-minute lead in the flat run-up to the final. Behind them, Lidl-Trek picked up the pace and kept their leader Pedersen well in front. When they passed the finish line for the first time, Scaroni, who had pulled away from Germani on the final climb, had only a half-minute lead.

The two Italians managed to get back together and stayed out of the peloton for quite some time. However, just after the Red Bull kilometer, it was all over for Scaroni, the last man left. After a sprint, Juan Ayuso took four bonus seconds ahead of his lead-out man, Del Toro, who took the last two seconds.

It was Romain Bardet who then attacked on the descent. The Frenchman from Picnic PostNL was joined by Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek). This put Lidl-Trek in a good position, with Pedersen waiting behind the leading duo, who did not have to ride. The peloton hesitated for a moment, but Visma | Lease a Bike quickly launched the chase. Alpecin-Deceuninck also did some strong work at the front for Kaden Groves.

With an eight-second lead, the pair began the final kilometer. However, they were eventually caught 400 meters from the finish line. Groves had to let go while most of the favorites for the stage win were still in contention. Pedersen launched his sprint at 200 meters, with van Aert on his wheel in a brilliant sprint. The Belgian could not get past the Dane, giving the Lidl-Trek rider his fourth victory of this Giro. Del Toro finished third, earning four bonus seconds. The other contenders finished three seconds behind, making it another good day for the Mexican rider.