The Danish powerhouse finished off a perfect lead-out from his Lidl-Trek teammates to seal victory and the first yellow jersey of the race in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule.
Lidl-Trek’s plan was clear right from the start of the day: go all-in for Mads Pedersen.
The Team made sure to control the opening part of the race and once a manageable two-rider breakaway was up the road, Carlos Verona took control of the peloton.
From that moment, it was a case of keeping the leading duo at a comfortable distance and Verona, with the help of Decathlon–AG2R La Mondiale, did just that before eventually the race was brought back together with 15 kilometers to go.
The pace was high and the race only got faster and faster with the peloton flying along at speeds of almost 100km/h as Toms Skujins pulled off the front with around 2 kilometers to go, making way for the final lead-out from Alex Kirsch and Ryan Gibbons to pilot Pedersen towards the line.
Gibbons took over the reins around 800 meters from the finish with the South African national champion expertly pulling Pedersen into to the final corner and it was from here, with 200 meters to go, that the great Dane was able to unleash his characteristically powerful sprint.
Others might have been breathing down his neck but Pedersen was not going to let the win slip out of his hands and he made sure he was the one punching the air with delight at the end of Stage 1.
Mission accomplished!
🎯#Dauphiné pic.twitter.com/J5NjuNxRGG
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) June 2, 2024
Mads’ Reaction
You can't complain when you win. Of course, we will look into the details. We want to make it perfect every time and if we can learn from today, we will definitely do it but this is as close to perfect as it gets so I am super happy with the boys. Carlos did super good pulling, it’s not easy even with two guys who were going quite fast in the beginning. Alex is controlling this leadout to perfection and of course, Toms and Ryan need the power to deliver it. Toms is doing an incredible job, the same with Alex, and Ryan also delivered me perfectly today. I think we've set up the right train and now we just have to keep repeating it every time we can.
The sprint itself today was not downhill but if you come too early with the team then you are short on people and that's why it's really impressive how Alex is guiding the team and making sure everyone is moving at the right moment. Plus you need a lot of horse power and today we had it all.
#Dauphiné A perfect bit of teamwork there to set up the win for @Mads__Pedersen! pic.twitter.com/0TtyIVu5il
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) June 2, 2024
Every win gives me more and more confidence. I’m racing my bike to win races, so it’s nice. The objective coming here was to win a stage and we have that now so from now on it's keep racing, get a lot of "training" out of it and, get back into the rhythm in the peloton. My last race was Paris-Roubaix so it's been a long time of training and racing is just different so I am really happy with this win especially as we only have two chances here as sprinters so it's pretty nice to start this week by getting the sprint train right. I am just really happy that we worked this well together today.
I think tomorrow is too hard in the final, and now being in the lead of the race I don’t think anyone will let me in the break. I think tomorrow we’ll control to respect the jersey and we also have one GC guy here, Tao, that we have to take care of, and that’s my job until Stage 5.
It's always nice to wear a yellow jersey, of course. I tried in Paris-Nice already, now here, and so the next goal should be the Tour at one point.
