'Energy well spent' - Pedersen bounces back in Tour de France green jersey contest
Pedersen strengthened his advantage over Philipsen in the green jersey contest, with just three stages remaining, thanks to his breakaway exploits.
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Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) made significant strides in the contest for the green jersey against Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) on stage 18 of the Tour de France.
After Philipsen had beaten him at the intermediate sprint for three straight stages, Pedersen appeared to shift the momentum by taking the maximum 25 points on stage 17.
However, Philipsen sprinting to the stage victory in Voiron swung the contest back, cutting Pedersen’s lead in the green jersey contest to seven points.
Despite the disappointment, Pedersen quickly dusted himself off and fought his way into the breakaway on stage 18, while Philipsen found himself distanced from the peloton.
Pedersen’s effort put him in position to contest the intermediate sprint at Corps with 56km remaining, where he claimed the maximum 25 points, stretching his lead over Philipsen to 32.
It was a tough effort to be in position to win the intermediate sprint but Pedersen described it as energy well spent, as the points gained have placed the Dane in the driving seat for the green jersey.
“For sure that was really tough, you know, it's hard to be there with all these climbers and I have to dig really deep but I would say yesterday was not well spent energy but today was definitely well spent," Pedersen said afterwards.
The Dane admitted his disappointment from the previous stage, though acknowledged that still holding the advantage in the standings gave him the motivation to fight back.
“Yeah, as you said yesterday was a really big disappointment, but you know, I was still in the lead of the jersey, and I'm not here to give up, you know, I'm fighting all the way to Paris. I think today was the example of bouncing back and get the best out of it.”
Two Alpine stages remain until Paris, but that isn’t deterring Pedersen from trying to collect more points at intermediate sprints if he can navigate the climbs ahead.
“If I can collect a few more points the next few days, I will do it. It's three days of racing left, and I try to do everything to get that as much as possible,” he said.
Pedersen is looking to become just the sixth male rider to win the points classification at all three Grand Tours, with only three stages standing between him and joining that exclusive club.
Result: Tour de France stage 18
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