A bold move from Mads Pedersen with 60 kilometers of racing still to go at Gent-Wevelgem saw the Danish superstar go solo at the front to take a hat-trick of career wins at the Belgian race.
It was a big ask to keep going all the way to the finish line but Pedersen proved just how good his shape is this Classics season with a powerful display of strength and determination that was ultimately enough to hold off any attempts at closing the gap and secure him his 50th pro win.
Behind him, Pedersen’s Lidl-Trek teammates continued to monitor the situation at the front of the bunch, disrupting the chase when necessary, before Jonathan Milan sprinted to third place to round out the day’s podium.
Quotes from the finish line:
Mads Pedersen
“Yeah, it’s crazy! I never thought I would be able to do something like this. To win here again, it’s super nice. I have no idea what I was thinking [attacking with over 60km to go] but it was in favor of being alone with the full tailwind the last 20km. I had really good legs so I tried to open the race and then, at one point, it’s the point of no return.
“This could have ended badly but today, it went well so luckily it was a good decision. Definitely, [I’m in the best shape of my life], I haven’t felt better than now and both Friday and today confirms that so I’m super happy. In the last 5km, I knew from previous years that the bunch is coming back really fast in the end and today, they were doing that too so, even with 1km to go I still kept fighting with myself. The last 300/400 meters I realised ‘ok, I got it’. I was told this morning that if I won today, I would be joint record holder here so that’s nice to be there now and, winning is just nice so I’m happy whether it’s the first or the third time.
“This is a race that suits us well and suits Jonny really well too so, it shows that we’re there with good cards to play and a lot of numbers. It’s awesome to have teammates like this. With Jonny in the peloton, it was my time to do what he did last year and luckily I was able to make it all the way to the finish line and if I couldn’t make it to the finish line then at least I would have put pressure on the other teams and Jonny would still of been there for the sprint so all in all for the team, it was a good scenario.
“I had a tough time on the Kemmelberg the last time up and I definitely started to feel the legs, the tailwind was saving me quite a lot. If it was a block headwind then I don’t think it would have been possible to do this, so the tailwind saved me. It’s the longest time I’ve been alone solo apart from training, so it was nice and a special feeling and now I know how Mathieu and Tadej feel.
“Next Sunday, it’s a different race than this and those two guys [Pogacar and van der Poel] are on a different level, you saw that on Friday with Mathieu. He’s able to do it when it’s a block headwind in the last 40kms and I needed some tailwind so there’s the difference but I’m just happy that I could finish it off and win a Classic. We also know Tadej is a pretty good bike rider so he’s able to do the same. Of course, this gives me confidence for Sunday and we believe we can win but it’s not going to be easy at all.”
Jonathan Milan
“We started with the goal of having a nice day and, as we said at the beginning, it was good to start with many cards to play. I am really happy that Mads won and I tried to do my best in the sprint behind him but, I went a bit too early, I think with around 300 meters to go. It was always pretty tough racing with a lot of splits and echelons in the wind but for me, it was good to be able to always stay with the guys. We will have super strong teams for the upcoming races too and so, after today, I think we can all look forward to what is to come.”
