What can we expect from Pedersen and Lidl-Trek in the upcoming stages? "Time to repay Vacek on his turf"

Approaching the day's final climb, the wearer of the maglia rosa suddenly took the lead. "We wanted a good result with Vacek because he deserved the chance to go for the pink jersey. With an excellent result, we succeeded. When Daan Hoole and I started riding at the front, the leading group still had three and a half minutes."

"We knew that with a fast downhill and a few turns at the front, we could close the gap considerably and that the drag race to the foot of the climb would start automatically,” Pedersen explains. “That was the idea: pushing it for five kilometers because the other teams would take over automatically."

"Giulio Ciccone was obviously also motivated. We are in Italy, close to his home region," Pedersen added. The Italian eventually finished fourth in the day's results, behind Juan Ayuso, Isaac del Toro, and Roglic. Vacek finished in 21st place, 34 seconds behind stage winner Ayuso.

And so Lidl-Trek said goodbye to the pink jersey (for now). "It was a fantastic week in pink, something I will always remember and be super proud of. With all the work and so on, it was an incredible week for the team," said Pedersen, who, with a little imagination, could still go far on Saturday and Sunday. "We are going into the weekend with a lot of confidence. We are now entering Vacek's turf, so it might be time to repay him for all the work he has done."

The Czech rider went for the leader's jersey on Friday, but ultimately, he had to admit that the pure climbers were better. "I did my best and felt good on the climbs, but when it got steep and they started attacking, the speed was too high for me," he told Eurosport after the race.

"A steady pace is always better for me, but I gave it a good try and have no regrets. I rode up with the best climbers in the world, and I'm not giving up on the classification yet,“ he explained. On Saturday, Vacek will have another chance to go for the pink jersey. ”It wasn't enough this time, but we'll just go for it again. The team did a great job again, and I'm happy with how everything is going."