Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) had to work much harder for his fourth stage win of the 2025 Giro d'Italia than he did on his previous wins, but muscled his way to the victory on stage 13 to Vicenza.
Pedersen sprinted from behind on the long, uphill drag to the line, holding off Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) to add to his lead in the points classification.
Race leader Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) continued to race with a maturity far beyond his years sprinting in for third. In addition to the four-second bonus for the stage finish, he also claimed a two-second bonus in the intermediate sprint, stretching his advantage in the GC standings even further.
"I'm happy with this one and adding 50 points to the ciclamino jersey. I'm overwhelmed about winning again - it's one insane Grand Tour," Pedersen said.
"I had to open up on the right side, close to the barrier, so I went a bit earlier than I really wanted to, but on such a hard day and an uphill final like this, it's sometimes it's OK to go early, because everyone have burning legs the last 100 meters."
Pedersen's team put him in a perfect position with Mathias Vacek attacking over the top of the final climb with Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL). The pair were caught inside the final kilometre, but Pedersen was hoping his teammate could hang on and take the win.
"He deserved it so much - if there would have been a little bit more hesitation in the in the peloton, he and Bardet would have had 25-30 seconds, and then I'm pretty sure they would have made it to the finish line.
"So this was ideal - he got the chance of winning the stage, and then we could sit behind and let all the teams keep a really high speed. So it was an ideal situation for us."
Del Toro had a moment where he thought he might be able to win the stage after following Alpecin's Edward Planckaert to the front on the climb but he faded quickly once Pedersen came flying past.
"I didn't have the sprint in the legs. I just feel worse and worse. And then Mads Pedersen comes super fast and Wout van Aert follows, and I tried to follow, but I didn't have the legs to stay in the wheel even, it was a super strong finish. And yeah, chapeau - I did my best."
He leads the Giro d'Italia by 38 seconds over teammate Juan Ayuso after taking the time bonuses, with Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) still in third at 1:18.
Head down for a fourth win at this year's Giro d'Italia is Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) (Image credit: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
How it unfolded
There was an aggressive start out of the neutral zone in Rovigo, with lots of teams interested in trying to make a breakaway on stage 13 of the Giro d'Italia. With 180km on the menu and some open, exposed roads, the threat of wind had everyone on edge.
Several teams tried their luck, but Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek made their intentions for the day clear, ensuring a group that wasn't too big got away.
saac del Toro at the start in Modena (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Splits formed at points, and the peloton was lined out single file, as the wind blew hard into the peloton. Sven Erik Bystrøm (Groupama-FDJ) was the first rider who really got any separation, and the break of the day was formed when eight riders bridged across to his wheel.
What looked like it could have been a crazy start was calmed down, with those in the peloton wanting the victory allowing the nine men to get away: Bystrøm, Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar), Chris Hamilton (Picnic-PostNL), Mattia Bais (Polti VisitMalta), Filippo Magli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Fran Miholjević (Bahrain Victorious) and Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).
A normal pattern of a breakaway wouldn't follow, however, with Lidl-Trek, Visma and Q36.5 all putting a rider on the front to ensure the nine-rider move didn't get much of an advantage to play with on the road to Vincenza.
With Pedersen, Van Aert and Pidcock among their ranks, all three had one of the favourites of the day to work for.
Visma-Lease a Bike and Lidl-Trek control the peloton (Image credit: Getty Images)
The average speed was rapid throughout the opening 100km of the stage, with the work behind keeping the break's advantage under the three-minute mark for the entire time. Such was the pace behind that with 55km and only the circuits around the finish remaining, their lead was down to less than one minute.
Heading into the final 50 kilometres, Ineos Grenadiers applied pressure as the breakaway's gap fell under 30 seconds, and while maglia rosa Isaac del Toro was attentive and up front, his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate Juan Ayuso was left to close down a gap on his own.
Germani attacked and left his breakaway companions behind, but it was an act of desperation as the peloton was bearing down on the escapees.
Ben Turner set such a wicked pace on the lower slopes of the San Giovanni in Monte climb that even Ineos teammate Thymen Arensman struggled to stay on. The effort shredded the peloton into bits, but Del Toro was there all the while.
An attack from Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) followed, and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) bridged across but they weren't able to stay clear. The pace slowed, and riders like Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) made it back into the lead chase.
Germani was the only breakaway rider left at the summit of the San Giovanni in Monte climb and, with a steep, technical descent, the Giro d'Italia contenders fought to hold a good position.
Breakaway of the day was composed of Christian Scaroni of XDS Astana (left) and Lorenzo Germani of Groupama-FDJ (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Just before the top, Christian Scaroni (XDS Astana) bridged across to Germani and led over the summit, helping to breathe new life into the breakaway.
The duo built up a lead of almost one minute with 25km to go, but the chase behind was on at such a furious pace, that the maglia rosa nearly came down in a sharp turn but managed to stay up.
With the Red Bull KM time bonus sprint coming on a climb with 10.4km to go, UAE Team Emirates chased down the breakaway, catching Germani before the sprint line.
Scaroni stayed clear to take the six-second bonus, but Del Toro let Ayuso win the sprint for second. That let Ayuso carve two seconds out of the maglia rosa's advantage but the pair gained time on everyone else.
Romain Bardet of Picnic PostNL and Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek on the attack across the finish circuit (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNL) attacked after the sprint and was quickly joined by Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek). The duo powered out a 17-second lead with 4km to go, and with points leader Pedersen absolved of putting the team behind a chase, that work fell exclusively to Visma-Lease a Bike and Alpecin-Deceuninck.
The two leaders had only 10 seconds with 2km to go, but with only eight seconds as they passed under the 1km banner, the catch was certain. The bunch swept past and headed uphill to finish with Del Toro in second wheel.
Pedersen opened up the sprint with 200m to go with Van Aert on his wheel and Del Toro just behind to claim the four-second bonus.
Riders react to uphill finish, Wout van Aert (left) placed second and race leader Isaac del Toro (centre) placed third (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)
Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
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