Mads Pedersen

Mads Pedersen became the third Dane to win a stage on this year's Tour de France when an escape group beat the peloton to Saint-Etienne on a baking-hot dash ...

"I had a couple of good days in the mountains, my legs felt good, so when it came to the sprint I had enough." "It was a bit of a gamble," the 26-year-old Pedersen said after his first ever Grand Tour win. A bunch sprint had been expected on this 193km Stage 13 run from the foot of the Alps but as the heavier built riders, who dominate the sprints, began to struggle in the searing temperatures, a seven-rider break began to dream of a stage win.

Danish sprinter holds off Britain's Fred Wright after breakaway · ASO under pressure over Covid testing and Alpe d'Huez scenes.

If organiser ASO refuses to create distance between riders and public, that is a lack of respect.” On Thursday, the Belgian association of sports doctors (SKA) also accused ASO of not adhering to the best Covid testing protocols. Coronavirus is a disease, not an injury.” After we got over it, it was like: ‘Damn, it’s going to be a sprint and I won’t be able to beat him [Pedersen].’” Maybe not this Tour, but at some point there will be a next time.” The 23-year-old slipped clear in the final kilometres with former World Road Race champion Pedersen and Hugo Houle, but the Dane’s sprint proved irresistible.

Pedersen outsprinted Great Britain's Fred Wright to take stage victory for Trek-Segafredo.

Both Houle and Wright would both attempt to launch moves to catch out the Danish rider, although there would be no stopping Pedersen. With 500 metres to go to the line, Pedersen launched a powerful and vicious final attack to force a gap between him and Wright. There would be no stopping the Trek-Segafredo rider who crossed the line with his arms outstretched to take a comfortable Tour de France stage victory. The Australian team miraculously avoided a mass pile-up as Amund Grøndahl Jansen managed to save himself after appearing to lose balance on the front of the peloton in the melting tarmac. Pedersen was marking every acceleration from Ganna superbly as they appeared to be the two strongest riders. However, with a finish that suited Michael Matthews, BikeExchange-Jayco weren’t satisfied with the drop in pace and dislodged the teams of the overall favourites from the front of the action. As the pace lifted in the main field, Ewan would be jettisoned from the back of the group along with several other riders including Jakobsen. 47 kilometres to go and Simmons began to fade in the breakaway. Pedersen clearly feared Ganna who was distanced from the group along with Küng and Jorgenson. Initially it appeared that they would look to drive the pace, however at the back of the race Ewan was being assisted by the Alpecin-Deceuninck team car as he fought to rejoin the main group. There was brief panic in the peloton as in an open and exposed stretch of road, brief splits formed in the bunch. Moments later the chasers would join up with Ganna, Küng and Jorgenson to form a solid group of seven at 1-44 ahead of the main field. The finish into Saint-Étienne was widely expected to be contested in a sprint finish. There was disarray behind the trio as other riders attempted to form a chasing group. Before stage 13 got underway, Jonas Vingegaard was still firmly in the driving seat in the overall standings.

Tour organisers ASO under pressure over Covid testing and Alpe d'Huez scenes during Thursday's stage.

If organiser ASO refuses to create distance between riders and public, that is a lack of respect.” On Thursday, the Belgian association of sports doctors (SKA) also accused ASO of not adhering to the best Covid testing protocols. Coronavirus is a disease, not an injury.” “It is a miracle of God that no accidents happen,” the newspaper said. After we got over it, it was like: ‘Damn, it’s going to be a sprint and I won’t be able to beat him [Pedersen].’” Maybe not this Tour, but at some point there will be a next time.”

In a dramatic three-way sprint, Mads Pedersen stormed to victory on Stage 13 of the Tour de France in Saint-Etienne.

From there on, I just wanted to make the gap as big as possible, slow down and gamble a bit in the last few kilometres.” Towards the summit, as Alpecin Deceuninck could do no more, and with no other prepared to take over, a truce appeared to be called in the bunch. No-one was prepared to threatenJonas Vingegaard's (Jumbo-Visma) commanding lead of 2'22" in the general classification. It was a void QuickStep-AlphaVinyl were surprisingly prepared to fill, with Florian Senechal and Mattia Cattaneo moving up to the front. Too little, too late, Bike Exchange decided to take over at the front. A team-mate went straight on at a left-hand bend causing the Australian to clip a rear wheel, and go down, clutching his knee. The final categorised climb, the Côte de Saint-Romain-en-Gal, was not steep, at 4.7%, but as it went on for more than 7km it presented significant challenges and big opportunities. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) used it as a launch pad, taking with him Stefan Kung (Groupama FDJ) and Matteo Jorgensen (Movistar). The two accomplished time trialists were able to use the terrain to their advantage, and soon Trek-Segafredo weren’t happy to have missed out, sending Quinn Simmons up the road with Mads Pederson on his wheel. Three categorised climbs, none lower than a two, and many uncategorised rises in between, offered plenty of opportunities to put the non-puncheurs under pressure. After two brutal days in the high mountains, in which survival was the only game in town, Stage 13 had originally offered something to the sprinters. A touch of wheels at a seemingly innocuous cornercaused Caleb Ewan and several others in his squad to crash. When one of those teams -Lotto-Soudal - experienced catastrophe with 71km remaining, it was all but certain the stage would go to the break.

Mads Pedersen's perfectly timed attack with 250 meters to the finish line propelled him to a Stage 13 win at the Tour de France on Friday, ...

A group of three riders finally went clear in the the short cote de Brie climb. Their battle is expected to resume next week in the thin air of the Pyrenees mountains before the race ends in Paris in nine days. Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lotto Soudal joined forces to set a strong pace until Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan missed a turn and crashed. Following two brutal days of racing in the Alps, Vingegaard enjoyed a quiet day in the pack, well protected by his Jumbo-Visma teammates. The 2018 champion, Geraint Thomas, was third, 2:26 off the pace. It's really nice to get the reward."

In a dramatic three-way sprint, Mads Pedersen stormed to victory on Stage 13 of the Tour de France in Saint-Etienne.

From there on, I just wanted to make the gap as big as possible, slow down and gamble a bit in the last few kilometres.” Towards the summit, as Alpecin Deceuninck could do no more, and with no other prepared to take over, a truce appeared to be called in the bunch. No-one was prepared to threatenJonas Vingegaard's (Jumbo-Visma) commanding lead of 2'22" in the general classification. It was a void QuickStep-AlphaVinyl were surprisingly prepared to fill, with Florian Senechal and Mattia Cattaneo moving up to the front. Too little, too late, Bike Exchange decided to take over at the front. A team-mate went straight on at a left-hand bend causing the Australian to clip a rear wheel, and go down, clutching his knee. The final categorised climb, the Côte de Saint-Romain-en-Gal, was not steep, at 4.7%, but as it went on for more than 7km it presented significant challenges and big opportunities. Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) used it as a launch pad, taking with him Stefan Kung (Groupama FDJ) and Matteo Jorgensen (Movistar). The two accomplished time trialists were able to use the terrain to their advantage, and soon Trek-Segafredo weren’t happy to have missed out, sending Quinn Simmons up the road with Mads Pederson on his wheel. Three categorised climbs, none lower than a two, and many uncategorised rises in between, offered plenty of opportunities to put the non-puncheurs under pressure. After two brutal days in the high mountains, in which survival was the only game in town, Stage 13 had originally offered something to the sprinters. A touch of wheels at a seemingly innocuous cornercaused Caleb Ewan and several others in his squad to crash. When one of those teams -Lotto-Soudal - experienced catastrophe with 71km remaining, it was all but certain the stage would go to the break.

Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) out-kicked his breakaway rivals in a three-up sprint to win stage 13 of the Tour de France, as the peloton endured a nervous ...

Houle led them under the flamme rouge and Pedersen was perfectly placed to take the win, a third victory for Denmark in four days. Only Fred Wright and Hugo Houle could close the gap, and the trio worked hard to distance their rivals who they could not afford to allow back into contention. However, the day swung back in favour of the breakaway when the Lotto Soudal train came a cropper on a fast corner and Ewan crashed hard, leaving only Alpecin-Deceuninck to control the peloton.

Pedersen comfortably outsprinted Wright and Hugo Houle at the end of the 192km stage from Le Bourg d'Oisans to Saint Etienne as the breakaway prospered after ...

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