For the second straight day, Mads finishes runner up after another classy team effort
Mads Pedersen is showing off super fast legs in La Vuelta a Espana, his second Grand Tour this season after he raced and won a stage at the Tour de France.
For a second straight day, and second straight bunch sprint, he has gone up against some of the fastest sprinters in the pro peloton and pulled off second place. Once again, Sam Bennett foiled his first Vuelta win.
And his teammates, 100 percent in support, are giving him that extra bit of motivation to finish off their selfless work. From the unsung grunt work put in by Dario Cataldo and Julien Bernard to keep the breakaway in check and pace high at the end, to the perfect lead-out by Daan Hoole and Alex Kirsch, the team has been all-in for the former World Champ.
Even the light-weights, Juan Pedro Lopez, Kenny Elissonde and Antoni Tiberi, all patiently awaiting the hills, drop back to the car for feeds, or assist with encouraging words of support.
Every rider on the team does his part in a Grand Tour stage. And this all adds up. Three stages into the three-week race, Mads Pedersen and the boys are knocking on the door of victory.
Dario and Julien: 2 of the team's unsung heroes.
The boys did a really, really good job today. Everyone was committed. Julien pulling from the beginning and Dario taking over. It was not an easy break to control so they did really well.
- Mads Pedersen
We took a big part of the responsibility in chasing the breakaway.
Juanpe in the caravan.
I think our young guns here learned that it’s nicer to be up front with us in the finales, and not in position 80, so both Juanpe and Tiberi learned something new today by staying with us. Especially Tiberi, he did really well, he was still there with 3k to go and that was impressive.
- Mads Pedersen
Juanpe's happy to stay out of the sprint chaos!
Mads is in top form.
Daan is always there at the end, doing the leadout and keeping us out of problems. And Alex - yeah, we know the story, which was pretty much the same again. He leaves me on the wheel of Sam.
- Mads Pedersen
Lead-out extraordinaire.
Mads capitalized on the great teamwork.
Sam opened the sprint, and it was a headwind sprint, so I was like ‘okay, perfect’. I opened a moment later, but I picked the wrong way, I went to the right. I think Mclay from Arkea and Sam came a bit together and I got boxed in. I had to stop pedaling and be a bit on the brakes and then go left and start the sprint again. It destroyed the chances at winning the stage, but it shows good for the rest of the Vuelta. We still have some good opportunities to go.
- Mads Pedersen
Sam Bennett foiled the victory again.
