Mads Pedersen dominates Tour de la Provence Stage 2

How it happened

After sickness last week in Bessèges and missing out on victory yesterday, Mads Pedersen was eager to open his 2025 account. Having won the same stage last year, Mads started the day as favourite. Whilst the pre-race plan was for Mads to sprint to win the stage, races rarely unfold like a PlayStation game, and instead Mads followed his instinct to attack from range. On his first foray he found himself with unwilling companions, but after returning to the chase group to reshuffle his hand, Mads emerged in front with Matej Mohoric (TBV), and the duo combined well to reach the finish together. The Danish Dynamite led out the sprint, dropping Mohoric from the wheel and putting four seconds of daylight between themselves, with the peloton 16 seconds behind. Thanks to the significant time gaps, Mads also takes the GC lead, 13 seconds ahead, with one stage remaining.

In Mads’ words

“We wanted to make it hard on the climb. Arkea started in the bottom and after a few km we decided to speed up and go with everything we had. 3km to the top, Bauke was done and I saw the moment to go. Sometimes it would work out to be 3 or 4 guys going and we could have made it to the finish line. But, the two guys I had with me didn’t want to work with me and that’s how it is. I got the bonus seconds and then we went back to the group to mix it up again because I was still in a good situation with Toms coming in the second group, and we had three more guys in the group behind that. No matter what, we would be in a good situation, so I thought let’s go back and mix it up again. I knew straight away with Mohoric and Fred Wright there that they would attack in turns, but luckily me and Toms were there to cover both. An ideal situation for us.

“Matej said a few km out that he was cooked, but you never know, you’re never sure before you pass the finish line. The last 40km was not easy for either of us. We had to gamble a bit ourselves and they were coming fast from behind because the helpers can do pulls then stop, and you see it in the last km they came really fast.

“Winning is winning, and when you win you get more confidence. It’s a good sign that your shape is good and you’re ready for the upcoming challenges. It’s a confidence boost not only for me but for the whole team. They started already in Valencia with Jonny and that group winning, so now we try and carry it on and give this boost back to the whole team.”