Pedersen delivers Vuelta stage win with exceptional breakaway performance
The green jersey was a marked man in the finale but was able to execute the victory in exceptional fashion
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) claimed a hard-fought victory on stage 15 of the Vuelta a España after a tactical finale in Monforte de Lemos.
Pedersen was part of a 47-rider breakaway and made the key selection when the breakaway split on an uncategorised drag with 32km remaining, with seven riders bridging clear to the front duo of Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep).
Pedersen dealt with the attacks and was the marked rider in the final sprint to claim the win ahead of Orluis Aular (Movistar) and Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), proving his power and determination
It marks the first victory of this Vuelta and the fourth in the career for the Dane, who has been combative throughout this edition, and extends his lead in the points classification in the process.
The peloton was able to take things 'steady' on the stage, with no threats in the general classification up the road. Bahrain-Victorious led the peloton home, 13:31 behind the stage winner, with the only change in the top 10 being Junior Lecerf (Soudal-QuickStep) moving up to 9th from 13th thanks to his participation in the breakaway.
How it unfolded
A breakaway of 47 riders formed on the climbing-packed first half of the stage. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep) attacked clear of their breakaway companions early into proceedings and spent a large portion of the stage out front, with their advantage over the chasers breaching three minutes at one point.
On an uncategorised drag with 32km remaining, Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) moved clear, with Orluis Aular (Movistar), Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla), Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), and Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) able to bridge across to form a group of seven riders behind the front duo, whose advantage was now less than a minute.
With 20km to go, Vine and Vervaerke’s advantage was twenty seconds over the seven-man group, with Pedersen motivating his companions to cooperate in the chase.
Vine and Vervaeke managed their advantage well over the next few kilometres, with things apparent that the chasers behind were leaning on Pedersen, who would stand the best chance of victory in a sprint scenario.
Bernal launched an attack with 6.7km remaining as the two groups reunited, but the Colombian champion’s move was marked.
Things were being increasingly tactical as the riders looked to the Green jersey, but it was Pedersen who attacked with 2.2km remaining, although it didn’t stick. Vervaeke was next to go, but Pedersen was in the wheel.
Vine tried his luck just before the flamme rouge, but it was Mads Pedersen who led the group towards the sprint finish as Frigo attacked with 500m to go.
Sheffield crashed on a corner with a few hundred metres to go, but in the end, nobody was able to challenge the Dane in the sprint, finally taking his stage victory.
