|
It was not Mads Pedersen's greatest win but certainly will go into his palmares as one of his biggest. The former world champion nailed another sprint to take a massive victory in Gent-Wevelgem, the cobbled classics' opening race.
The final kilometers were non-stop thrills as nine riders – the strongest that rose to the fore after over 225 grueling and intermittently wet and cold kilometers – launched attack after attack. The elastic didn't break until the final 1500 meters when three riders finally broke free.
"Three guys went from the group, and I hoped Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert would close it, but they didn't. Then I managed to jump across, stay in the last wheel, and make my sprint from there. I like long sprints. They fit me better. It was a pretty hard race, especially in weather conditions like this, raining and then drying up, but I know how to handle this, so it was good for me. It's definitely one of my biggest victories!"
Pedersen waited, showing a patience of experience, then jumped across the gap to the leading trio. In the sprint, he powered from fourth position, overtaking Florian Senechal (Deceuninck-Quick Step) and Matteo Trentin (CCC Team), who finished second and third. It was his first Classics win.
"I'm definitely learning more and more every time I'm racing, and today I tried to play it a little bit smarter than usual, and luckily it paid off. I had enough [energy] to jump across and also make a sprint, which was good. It was a decision that I had to make in a few seconds. The group started to slow down a little bit, and I said to myself, 'Okay, it's all or nothing.' I had to make a decision and try.
"I knew I had to go alone, and hopefully, I could make it across. I might still end up fourth or even behind, but at least I had tried. Today it paid off, but maybe next time it will bite me in the ass, and then I'm out of top 10."
The 24-year-old Dane is beginning to make his mark in the world of cycling, building on a second place in the 2018 Tour of Flanders and winning the 2019 World Championships. There is no doubt he is heading into the Tour of Flanders in a week as one of the clear favorites.
"I did well in Flanders two years ago, and now I'm showing I'm one of the guys that can win classics. It means a lot to me to win here. I missed the Worlds, and one of the reasons was to be ready for the classics.
"The whole team was awesome today. Before starting the classics, we had a good talk and decided that we would race every day like it's the last race of the season. You never know what can happen, so every day it's all-in. That's how we're going to race this Wednesday and again Sunday."
|
