'Perfection, a cherry on the cake' – How Mads Pedersen and Lidl-Trek executed a team masterclass at the Giro d'Italia

"Perfection" was the only word Mads Pedersen needed to use to sum up his and Lidl-Trek's team masterclass on stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia, with the Dane winning the Albanian opener and claiming the first pink leader's jersey to cap off one of the most complete performances a Grande Partenza has ever seen. 

Having been labelled the heavy favourite ahead of the start in Durrës, Pedersen was relaxed at the start. He took time to greet former teammate and Giro d'Italia great Vincenzo Nibali in front of the team presentation stage, before casually checking his bike computer was dialled in with a spin of the cranks and rolling to the start line last.

It was clearly the calm before the storm, as the next 160km and three hours and 36 minutes of racing witnessed his whole team take control, reel back in the five-man break, and aggressively ramp up the pace on the double ascent of the Surrel climb to drop almost all of his rivals for a sprint. 

Only Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) was left as a real threat, and Pedersen's final surge on the climb was led by his team's GC option, Giulio Ciccone, who pushed the pace to really hurt Van Aert and minimise any chance of an opportunist trying to attack. 

All that remained was the finale, and Pedersen held off Van Aert and outsprinted him to victory, not surprisingly given his 5-1 win record over the Belgian in this year's Classics, but it added the only missing part of the puzzle to a perfect day.

"We all knew this was the plan; I prepared for this the whole winter. When you win, the plan is going to perfection," said Pedersen in his winner's press conference. 

"We had a clear plan today, we wanted to make the race hard, and everything worked out. After the team has been working like they did, it's nice to give them the victory.

"The Giro is one of the biggest races in the world, and to have a leader's jersey in a Grand Tour, it’s really amazing. It’s a cherry on the cake from the stage win,"

Despite the dominance, the Dane did have doubts throughout the day, making sure to never underestimate those who threatened to deny him pink and Lidl-Trek a complete performance.

"It’s never a given that you’re going to win a race; there are so many strong riders in this peloton, and everyone is here in top shape," said Pedersen. 

"If you're too confident when a race starts, maybe it backfires. You have to treat it with respect, believe in yourself, believe in the team, and that's what I did today. 

"Especially in a sprint like this with Wout [van Aert] in the group, you also have to treat him with respect, he can also win the race. Winning is never a given before passing the finish line."

Pedersen gave huge credit to Ciccone, whose brutal tempo demotivated attackers from trying anything and sapped Van Aert's legs. It seemed very much like a return of the favour for the work the Dane did two years ago at the Tour for Ciccone, when he dominated the breakaway several times to aid the Italian's pursuit of the King of the Mountains jersey.

That kind of teamwork isn't gained overnight, it's grown after years of riding together – six years exactly in the Lidl-Trek pairing's case.

"We wanted to keep such a high pace, that's why Cicco took over, because when he goes that fast, if you want to attack from there, it’s really chapeau," said Pedersen. 

"The GC guys don’t win the Giro today, so I would have been surprised if they wanted to attack, especially with the tempo Cicco did, and then they didn’t because he was riding that fast. It was the ideal situation.

"My DS told me that Wout started to have a hard time on the climb, but he is super smart. He started in front so he could move back and still managed to be in the group. I knew we wouldn't be able to drop him, but we could make it harder for him, so Cicco went harder."

'Hungry for more'

With a route lacking too many completely flat stages, Pedersen is likely to be a main fixture throughout this Giro, as one of the best sprinters already, but also as a versatile all-terrain weapon. 

He'll also want to pay back the likes of Ciccone, Mathias Vacek and all his team who helped bring the "cherry on the cake" to this opening day stage win.

"When you start with a win on stage one, you can’t sit back and just enjoy the next 20 days, so we’re here to keep trying and winning as much as possible," said an ambitious Pedersen. 

"We are happy to start like this, it's absolutely amazing, but we are hungry for more. We worked really hard to be in shape for this race, so we are not sitting up now; we'll keep fighting."

That fight starts tomorrow, with the individual time trial in Tirana and 13.7km separating him from a second day in the maglia rosa on stage 3. Pedersen's lead is only four seconds to Van Aert, who has won Grand Tour time trials previously; however, the Dane is more than capable against the clock.

"I hope it's me in pink tomorrow. I can do a short TT and will do my absolute best to keep and honour the jersey, but so many guys are able to get the jersey," said Pedersen. "There are GC riders who are super good in time trials, but Vacek and me will do our best to keep the jersey in the team."

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