Marie Mahé, media365: published on Friday May 09, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
This Friday, after winning the first stage of the Tour of Italy, the Danish Mads Pedersen could only rejoice, even if the Belgian Wout Van Aert, second, visibly scared him.
Let’s go for the 2025 edition of the Tour of Italy. This Friday, the first step, a total of a total of 160 kilometers and which ran between Durrës and Tirana in Albania, was won by the Danes Mads Pedersen. The resident of the American cycling team Lidl-Trek won, after having launched his sprint about 400 meters from the finish and, above all, resisted the return of his first pursuer, namely Van Aert, yet very close to exceeding him on the line. Finally, the Danish therefore knew how to have the last word, in front of the Belgian Wout Van Aert (Team Visma | Lease A Bike) and the Venezuelan Orluis Aurlar (Movistar Team). After having crossed the line, Pedersen spoke, in comments reported by the specialized website Cyclism’Actu: “This step was really important for me, it is incredible to succeed in winning after such work of the team. It is the result of everything we have put in place and all our efforts today. I was a little afraid of Wout in the final, I knew that it was behind me and it was never going to win. Peloton, especially in the sprint.
Pedersen, in a closed circle
Mads Pedersen takes the opportunity to kill two strokes with one stone since he seizes, at the same time, the pink jersey of the general classification, and this for the very first time in his career. Above all, the Danish enters a closed circle. That of the runners who won at least one stage on each of the three large towers. On the Tour de France, Mads Pedersen has two successes. On the Tour of Spain, the Danish gleaned three stages, in 2022, when he also won the best sprinter’s point classification.
