Mads Pedersen may not be a fan of cycling history, but the Dane earned himself an important place in the Giro d’Italia record books on Wednesday as the Lidl-Trek all-rounder became the first rider in 28 years to win three stages out of the first five of the race.
The last rider to have such a spectacular run of success in the Giro was Mario Cipollini in 1997, when the Italian sprinter claimed stages 1, 3 and 4.
Pedersen may have taken an extra 24 hours to reach the same tally as the Italian sprinter, but his win rate is staggeringly impressive nonetheless: not even Tadej Pogačar, who dominated the Giro in 2024 with six stage victories en route to an overall triumph, managed to keep his rivals at bay with such relentlessness.
The former World Champion recognised that even he and his team had never expected such an overwhelming run of triumphs, either, saying when asked about his near-record that “it’s insane, more than we even dreamed about”.
“We wanted to be as good as possible in Albania and were aiming to get the pink jersey there. But now to win three stages out of five, it’s insane. I’m super proud of the team and the way everybody has committed so much to make this possible.
“I don’t care too much about the history of it all, also because if there had been a mountain stage today, it wouldn’t have been possible. So the race route had to be suited for this to happen.
“All in all, I’m just super proud and happy with all we’re achieving right now.”
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Tactically none of the stages have been straightforward, though, for all they have all three been bunch sprints. There can be no forgetting the team’s role in Pedersen’s success, with Lidl-Trek evidently making a thorough plan to exploit the terrain to the maximum and ensure Pedersen had as rival-free a run as possible.
There was a notable difference to stage 5, though, even if Lidl-Trek used the previous steep category 4 climb at Montescaglioso to drop as many of the sprinters they could, just as they had done with the late ascents on stage 1 and 3. At one point later on in another almost equally steep, but unclassified climb in the finish town of Matera, teammate Mathias Vacek maintained a high pace even though Pedersen himself appeared to be in trouble.
According to Pedersen, the decision to keep Vacek on or close to the front was a reaction to an acceleration in pace by none other than Primož Roglič, clearly interested in testing the water a little even if the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe racer did not actually launch an all-out attack.
“So when Primož [Roglič] went for it, I told Vacek to stay with him because if they had got away he would have had a good chance,” Pedersen explained.
“I was really suffering there on the first part of the climb and Vacek deserved to grab a chance if it was possible. But he was riding incredibly smart, slowing down the whole group as much as he could as soon as it got flatter afterwards so I could make up some places on the corners.”
Pedersen’s strategy after he was all but dropped, he explained, was more to hang on as much as possible to try and snatch some more points for the ciclamino, even though he thought the win itself “had gone”. But in fact he managed to work his work back into contention, with Vacek once again proving instrumental in the long, draggy ascent to the finish in central Matera, thereby helping Pedersen ensure he could claim his ninth Grand Tour victory of his career.
“He did an incredible leadout too, so he and the team car made it possible today with the good guidance. And I’d say this win is definitely a good sign of how the team is working.”
Regarding Roglic’s acceleration, Pedersen said that Roglič was naturally ambitious and that had the race played slightly different in the finale and there had been a split of 10 or 15 GC guys, then if things were developing as normal, he’d be the favourite. “If I was in his shoes I’d have done the same,” Pedersen argued.
He also confirmed that he had suffered badly in such a fraught finish, liking it to when he had been dropped by Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on the Kwaremont in the Tour of Flanders. But unlike in the Ronde, Pedersen was able to do considerably more than finish third even if, he said, he had been too exhausted on stage 5 even to raise his arms in triumph. Or as he put it, “I was going really, really deep to make this happen”.
As a result Pedersen has stretched his GC advantage to 17 seconds on Roglič, not enough to ensure he’ll maintain his overall lead on stage 7, perhaps, but a handy addition all the same. With a seventh place on stage 4 as his worst result to date, too, his points advantage has now ballooned to 87 over second-placed Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike), giving the Dane a hefty gap for the upcoming mountain stage to Tagliacozzo. Barring major surprises of setbacks, then, Pedersen should still in the maglia ciclamino at least until the second rest day.
The question of how long Pedersen can keep going at such a high level in the Giro is a moot one, with the Lidl-Trek racer saying that he had no idea whether he might end up blowing in the third week. He has been winning since the Tour de la Provence in February, after all as well as racing hard all the way through the Classics, too.
“I did a bit more endurance training over the winter to try to keep good shape for as long as possible, but I also agree with my trainer that going into the Giro, I had to go all in to try and get the maglia rosa in the first part, because maybe my engine will blow during the race later on.
“It could be that it starts going in the opposite direction. It’s nice to have the wins now for if it all goes wrong after 15 days.”
For now, though, Pedersen’s Giro, as he said himself, could hardly be going any better – and now he has his own place in the Giro’s history books to prove it, too.
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