68 km solo effort earns powerhouse Mads Pedersen another home victory a week before the Vuelta, Del Grosso second

Stage 4 is a classic in the Tour of Denmark. Say “Vejle” in this race, and the peleton knows it’s going to be all hands on deck. While it was the opening road stage in 2024, this year the queen stage came on day four, ramping up the tension. The local laps around the Danish town have a fearsome reputation, and for good reason.

After Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) already managed to control part of the race in the first stage, he still held the lead in the general classification after the bunch sprint on day two and the time trial a day later. But there was never any chance of the Dane riding defensively in stage 4.

The opening section of the stage was relatively flat, by Danish standards at least. The only early obstacle was the Golfbakken (1.3 km at 4.9%). But the real action kicked off for the peloton with a short, sharp climb of the same name near the finale: Golfbakken again, but this time 0.8 km at a punishing 7.9%.

That’s where the race ignited: with just over 68 kilometers to go, Pedersen launched an attack. His first, but certainly not his last, of the day. Only William Blume Levy (UNO-X Mobility) could follow. The duo bridged across to the early break at 50 kilometers from the finish, which included Danes Stian Rosenlund and Mathias Malmberg (both AIRTOX-Carl Ras), Mads Würtz Schmidt (Danish national team), Emil Toudal (ColoQuick), Belgian Robbe Ghys (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Frenchman Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto), and Dutchman Enzo Leijnse (Picnic PostNL).

But simply catching the breakaway wasn’t enough for Pedersen. The Lidl-Trek leader attacked again, with Visma | Lease a Bike and Lotto giving chase. Only early escapee and former pro Würtz Schmidt could follow his compatriot, until the duo hit the local laps. On the brutally steep finishing ramp, Pedersen pushed too hard and found himself solo in the lead. Three local circuits of just under ten kilometers remained.

Back in the peloton, a nasty high-speed crash unfolded just before the main bunch reached the local circuit. Pedersen, meanwhile, was feeling it more and more in the 226.9-kilometer stage. The Danish team, led by Julius Johansen, took up the chase, cutting the gap to just 27 seconds with two laps to go.

In the group behind, the legs were starting to fade as well, and every moment of hesitation only added to the lead of the Danish frontrunner, who hit the final fifteen kilometers with a forty-second advantage. Even though he began to show a few signs of fatigue, the pace never really dropped.

With six kilometers to go, Tibor Del Grosso launched an attack from the peloton, but just like earlier moves, including one from Dylan van Baarle, he was given no room to get away. A little over half a minute after the winner crossed the line, the chasers came in, with Del Grosso taking second place.