He may be wearing the green jersey, but Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) is still winless in this Vuelta a España, starkly different from the start of his last Grand Tour, when he won three stages in the first five days of the Giro d'Italia.
The Dane came to the Vuelta to try and repeat his Giro feat – win stages and take home the green jersey – and whilst the points classification goal is going well, the best stage result he's taken so far is second on stage 3.
There have been three bunch sprints in the first week of racing, which Pedersen might be able to win in a different field, but up against so many pure sprinters, he has struggled for results in the pure, fast finishes.
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The latest disappointment came on stage 8, when he finished 11th – eventually upgraded to ninth after two relegations – marking another day of not the result he wants in this race.
"The final sprint just wasn’t good enough," he told the TV cameras after the stage. "Not even finishing in the top 10 isn’t what we came here for. It is what it is."
His campaign for the green jersey has been going well, consistently winning points – including on the way to Zaragoza on stage 8 – and whilst winning that classification and completing a triple for Lidl-Trek in 2025 is certainly a goal, he says winning a stage is more important.
"We can’t change the results now. All we can do is look ahead and keep trying to win a stage. I want to win stages," he said. "Picking up points in the intermediate sprints is something we have to do, but winning is the most important thing. That’s what it’s all about."
The difficult thing for Pedersen is that, after stage 8, the more sprinter-friendly stages are few and far between for some time, with an onslaught of climbs coming in the next week, more suited to his teammate Giulio Ciccone.
However, a versatile rider, Pedersen is not writing off opportunities prematurely, and suggested he will be on the offensive on a variety of days, not just the flatter ones.
"I'm here to win races, so of course I'll try, but these are different races now. There will be a few more climbs before the finish, which suits me better right now," he told reporters after stage 8.
"Of course there are some days when it is not possible for me to win, and on those days I am of course at the service of Cicco, but we also have six other people besides me who can help him. So now we have to see what the team's plan is for the next few days."
Could we even see Pedersen in a breakaway and winning on one of those tougher stages? Given how he performed in Paris-Nice in the spring, and the fact he knows he cannot wait for the sprints, it doesn't seem impossible.
"There is no doubt that I am here to win stages, even those that are more mountainous," he concluded.
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