Perhaps it’s a reaction to not being selected for the Tour de France. Perhaps it’s simply a flex of strength prior to the Vuelta a España. But Mads Pedersen has shown blistering form at the PostNord Tour of Denmark, clocking up a staggering show in what is his home race.
Pedersen led the 2.Pro-ranked event from start to finish, winning from the break last Tuesday on stage 1, netting third behind Lidl-Trek teammate Jakob Söderqvist in last Thursday’s time trial and then soloing to victory in a 30km attack on Friday.
He then clocked up his third stage win in five days on Saturday’s concluding leg, proving best from a breakaway sparked off by his Lidl-Trek teammate Mattias Skjelmose with 12km to go.
That’s not all; his domination of the event was made complete by a winning margin of 1:28 over Söderqvist.
Pedersen also crushed his the points classification rivals and Lidl-Trek was best in the team ranking.
A big morale boost prior to the Vuelta? You can say that again.
“It was pretty hard, but with the result, it was nice for sure,” he said. “And it’s super nice to get Jakob up on the podium as well. Now Jakob steps up into the big scene where he belongs and, yeah, what a race this Tour of Denmark has been for us.”
‘So nice to see this atmosphere’
Now 29 years of age, Pedersen looks on course for his best season to date. He’s landed 13 wins so far, including Gent-Wevelgem plus four stages in the Giro d’Italia, and few would bet against him building on his three Vuelta stage wins in the weeks ahead.
Missing the Tour will have left him with mixed feelings, even if teammate Jonathan Milan was successful with two stages plus the green jersey, but it does come with a benefit: riding a Giro/Tour program will give him a very good platform to clock up more grand tour stage wins.
Look for his current trajectory to continue in the weeks ahead, not least with a number of Vuelta stages deemed too tricky for pure sprinters.
And look for even more fans of the sport back home, the ever-increasing interest due partly to his success and also to the success of riders such as Jonas Vingegaard.
Pedersen could see a very clear sign of that in recent days.
“We can see cycling is growing in Denmark and it’s so nice to see all these people and this atmosphere,” he said Saturday. “Not only today, but in general the whole week.”
Pedersen is likely to have earned the sport a load more fans with the most impressive Tour of Denmark campaign in years.
Mads Pedersen is the first ♂️ to win at least 3 stages (and GC) in a single edition of PostNord Tour of Denmark since 2005 and Ivan Basso.pic.twitter.com/wOwgp8DeD8
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) August 16, 2025