‘Every rider has bad days, even the best’ – Rasmus Pedersen on Vingegaard and the brutality of the Euros

The call to join the national team came late, though Pedersen had already been part of a preliminary list in July. He had told national coach Michael Mørkøv then that he would always make himself available. "I've always been the guy to call up and say, I'm always ready to wear the national colors and help if needed," Pedersen said on the Domestique Hotseat Podcast.

Two weeks before the Euros, Mørkøv rang again and asked if he could come to France. Pedersen didn’t hesitate. It would be his first real race alongside Jonas Vingegaard after only a brief chat in a training camp elevator, and he admitted he was simply happy to line up with that group. "I was just excited to be there, especially with those guys, some heavy hitters, Skjelmose and Jonas."

Pedersen was part of a team with a plan. Mattias Skjelmose and Jonas Vingegaard were the leaders and Pedersen was assigned the job of stabilising the early race. "My job was to make sure the gap to the breakaway was a small group and that it could be controlled by Slovenia and Belgium."

Pedersen recalls that there was no easing into the race. No gentle opening kilometres. Just a blowtorch start that forced every rider to lay their cards on the table straight away. "We started on the climb 4K to the top. The first eight minutes had 450 watts. I'm not a climber, so it was quite something." 

That early intensity didn’t just shake up the field, it almost immediately caught out one of the biggest names in the race: Jonas Vingegaard, multiple Tour de France winner and Pedersen’s teammate for the day, who was distanced long before the finale.

Regarding Vingegaard's 'surprise' drop from the peloton, Pedersen explained how even the sport's elite can struggle on any given day. "Every rider, even the best rider I've seen today, has bad days, has bad legs and has days where they're just not there."

According to Pedersen, Vingegaard was fully committed to performing at his best despite the challenges over the course of the 2025 season. "He did everything like he had caffeine gel just before the second lap... he was dropped 15k later so he believed in it for sure 100% and he did all the things he had to do to be at that level to follow Tadej and Remco."

Pedersen also failed to finish, missing the time cut as the race split to pieces. In the end, only seventeen riders managed to reach the line. On the matter, he said, "If you're outside 10 minutes, you're getting pulled out. But yeah, of course there's a natural pressure that comes with racing on that team with those guys."

Watch the full episode with Rasmus Pedersen in the Domestique Hotseat 👇