Deutschland Tour: Mads Pedersen wins stage 2, takes race lead

SCHWABISCH GMUND GERMANY AUGUST 23 LR Mads Pedersen of Denmark and Team Lidl Trek celebrates at finish line as stage winner ahead of Tobias Halland Johannessen of Norway and Team UnoX Mobility during the 39th Deutschland Tour 2024 Stage 2 a 1746km stage from Heilbronn to Schwabisch Gmund 421m UCIWT on August 23 2024 in Schwabisch Gmund Germany Photo by Christian KasparBartkeGetty Images
Mads Pedersen wins stage 2 of the 2024 Deutschland Tour (Image credit: Getty Images)

Mads Pedersen claimed Lidl-Trek's third straight stage win in the Deutschland Tour, out-pacing late escape companions Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) and Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost) in Schwäbisch Gmünd.

Pedersen followed teammate Jonathan Milan, winner of the prologue and stage 1, in victory. With the stage win and time bonus, Pedersen moved into the race lead, taking the jersey from Milan.

Pedersen leads the Deutschland Tour ahead of Johannessen by 12 seconds, with Ineos' Ethan Hayter third at 21 seconds.

In the final 80 kilometres, the gap had come down below one minute and Marco Brenner (Lotto Kern-Haus PSD) and Bjørn Koerdt (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) bridged across.

Archie Ryan (EF Education-EasyPost), Kevin Vermaerke (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL), Jørgen Nordhagen (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Toms Skujinš (Lidl-Trek) made a counter-move but they too were caught with 21km to go.

Pedersen launched a searing attack in the final 2km, pulling Ryan and Tobias Johannessen (Uno-X) away but he held on to take Lidl-Trek's third straight stage win.

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