Reputed to prefer the cold, the Danish imposed himself in strong during a 13th stage crushed by heat. His compatriot Jonas Vingegaard keeps his yellow jersey.
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Mads Pedersen is like everyone else, he adapts as best they can to global warming. The Danes of the Trek-Segafredo belongs to this strange caste of runners ever as happy as the rain, probably because they know that 90 % of their comrades have only one desire: to return under the duvet and get pale.
In Saint -Etienne (Loire), the specialist in classics – these often cold and humid day races of spring – lifted his arms in a 13
Surprising? We are talking about Mads Pedersen, winner of a 2019 edition of the world championship in the Yorkshire who had had almost nothing to envy to the biblical deluge? His teammate, the Latvian joker Toms Skujins, also tried “a dance of the rain” to bring freshness and promote his boyfriend.
Useless. Yes, the sun can also shine for Pedersen. In the shade behind the coach of the American team with very Italian supervision, Luca Guecilena tells the world how his protégé has evolved so as not to be only this cyclist of bad weather. “Mads worked a lot to adapt to heat. He knew he was suffering a lot in these conditions and he lost weight, explains the Italian manager. He knew he had to be a little lighter, that it did not would not be a problem for the classics and that it would help him on days like today. “
” sharpened as a hunting dog “
Weight. In a sport where a half-kilo taken can cause a crisis meeting with convocation of the culprit, Mads Pedersen has often walked his handfuls of winter and his good children’s cheeks at the start of the season. But when the Danish avoids taking rab of pastries at breakfast, he walks with a lightness of ballerina his 70 kg (for 1.79 m) on his bike.
His new line has not escaped Vincent Lavenu, with the canine metaphor. “Pedersen is a little round during the season, but there he is sharp as a hunting dog,” observes the manager of Ag2r-Citroën. His Groupama-FDJ counterpart, Marc Madiot, knows the potential of the winner of the day: “He has a bit of class this guy, it’s a very beautiful runner.”
The Mayennais is not resentful. 13 kilometers from the finish, the future winner has placed a fatal start to his runner, the Swiss Stefan Küng, as well as the Italian Filippo Ganna (ineos-grenadiers). The two rollers had not spared their efforts (with the help of the American of the Movistar, Matteo Jorgenson) to create the breakaway of the day and impose a long showdown on the sprinters teams. “We fought a lot at the beginning, and as if by chance we are the three released at the end,” deplored Stefan Küng after having watered up a bottle of water.
Mads Pedersen then led to his luggage rack the British Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) and Hugo Houle (Israel-Prime Tech). At six Forez timetables, Quebec has been hoping for the first victory of one of his own on the Tour, but the Canadian did not have the speed to compete with his two opponents.
Fred Wright either. “I would have had to accelerate again to beat Mads [Pedersen], but I was not able to, recognizes his dolphin of the day. When he attacked in the breakaway, he surprised me. I thought it would rather come from Jorgenson or Küng. He was just stronger than me. “
Happy Danish. The subjects of Queen Margrethe II already combine three stages victories since the departure of Copenhagen, previously with the successes of Magnus-Cort Nielsen in Megève and Jonas Vingegaard at the top of Granon. “For Denmark, three victories in four days, it’s incredible. I am happy for Mads [Pedersen], who deserves it,” commented the yellow jersey.
Unlike his compatriot, the Jumbo-visa cyclist appreciates the heat, but even he begins to fear this heat wave which risks accompanying the peloton for a few more days. “You have to cool down constantly, bring down the body temperature, hydrate … We hoped for a cool day, it was a hot day and finally difficult.” Mads Pedersen, he found it rather pleasant.