Pedersen claims second in Paris-Nice opener

A well-drilled Lidl-Trek team helps Mads Pedersen to a podium start in Les Mureaux

How it happened

After an exceptional start to the season, with six wins in eight days of racing on French soil, Mads Pedersen came to Paris-Nice looking to add to that tally. The former World Champion is known for his exceptional ability in uphill sprints so it was no surprise that he was one of the big favorites for the win. Aware of this, Lidl-Trek assumed responsibility to keep the three-man breakaway in check, assigning ‘El Tractor’ Tim Declercq to pull, along with Visma Lease a Bike.

With the breakaway caught, Jorgensen (Visma) and Evenepoel (Soudal Quickstep) attacked on an uphill, their eyes on the time bonus available at the intermediate sprint at Montainville. Whilst several top sprinters were dropped due to the hard pace being set, Mads Pedersen was able to remain close to the front of the race along with Mattias Skjelmose and Jasper Stuyven. The group arrived at the final kilometer together after some late attacks were caught, and Stuyven positioned Pedersen right at the front. Pedersen launched his sprint, taking the final bend in the lead, but with 150 meters still to cover he was pipped to the line by a fast Olav Kooij (Visma). Not far behind, Mattias Skjelmose finished in 8th, maintaining the same time to start his GC bid in the right way.

In Mads’ words

“It turned out quite different to our plan. We thought it would be more of bunch sprint. In the end we were still 50-60 guys for the sprint but I would say 20 of those were just coming back in the last kilometers. When the GC guys opened for the bonification at 15km to go, the race was on and it was all about staying in the front. It was good that me, Skjelly and Jasper were still in the group so we didn’t have to fight to come back.

I wouldn’t say I was under control when Remco attacked, it was pretty hard and I had to dig deep for it, but I was one of the few sprinters who was there still in the full front and didn’t have to fight to come back, which is a good feeling. As always, the boys did a great job.

In the end I was beaten by a faster guy and that’s how it is. Ideally I would have been able to open the sprint 50-100 meters later and then I believe I would have won. It is what it is, the shape is still there. It was hard racing in the last 15km, so that’s good.”