Mads Pedersen called the 2025 Giro d'Italia "one insane Grand Tour" after romping home to a fourth stage win at the hill-top finale of Vicenza on stage 13.
The Lidl-Trek rider led in fancied Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and maglia rosa Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at the end of a hilly and hard fought final section of the stage, that saw the riders pass through the finish before a 20km final loop back round.
Leader Del Toro retained his pink jersey for what will be a fifth day at the top of the standings, and even extended it by five seconds over team-mate Juan Ayuso thanks to bonus seconds accumulated during an intermediate sprint and at the finish.
Pedersen described himself as "overwhelmed" after the stage, saying: "I'm just overwhelmed about winning again, it's really one insane Grand Tour this."
The Dane's 200m sprint, at the top of a steep two-kilometre cat-four climb to the line, was long enough already – but the slower speed added to the duration. He said: "I went a bit earlier than I really wanted to. But on such a hard day, on an uphill final like this sometimes it's OK to go early, everyone has burning legs the last 100 metres."
At one stage it looked as though Pedersen's team-mate Mathias Vacek would be vying for victory, after he broke away with Romain Bardet in the final handful of kilometres and was only brought back with 600m to go.
"He deserved it so much also," Pedersen said. "If there had been a little bit more hesitation in the peloton, him and Bardet would have had 25, 30 seconds, and I'm pretty sure they would have made it to the finish line."
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Asked about the chances of matching Tadej Pogačar's six stage victories from last year's Giro d'Italia, Pedersen gave the only answer you would expect: "Right now I'm just happy with this one and adding another 50 points to the ciclamino jersey," he said. "So let's see how it goes. It's still a long way to Rome."
Isaac Del Toro flanked by Egan Bernal and Primož Roglič
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How it happened
With four cat-four climbs and a vast amount of featureless flat along the way, a quick glance at the profile of this 180km outing from Rovigo to Vicenza wouldn't lead you to believe that it might turn into a GC vs rouleurs punch-up.
However, the devil is in the detail and upon closer examination that final climb to the finish in Vicenza, with its 12% slopes up to the finish, was always going to light the blue touchpaper.
The first half of the day was sedate in comparison though still plenty lively as the tension built. An early nine-rider breakaway was never allowed much rope, with Lidl-Trek, Visma-Lease a Bike and Q36.5 manning the front the bunch and broadcasting their stage-win hopes loud and clear.
The day's biggest climb – the San Giovanni in Monte, starting with 50km to go – always loomed large on the horizon and the bunch hit it harder than many expected, with the peloton decimated by the high speed as they swallowed the break.
Only Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ) had managed to hold off the chasers, and he was joined by XDS-Astana rider Christian Scaroni as they approached the summit of the climb.
It was now the turn of Germani and Scaroni to be monitored closely by the chasing peloton, which brought the pair to heel just in time for the Red Bull sprint. This saw an intriguing duel between Del Toro and his theoretical team leader Juan Ayuso, with the Mexican appearing to sit up and allow Ayuso to take second place, while he himself settled for third (Scaroni went through first).
With less than 10km to the finish, Bardet and Vacek now tried their luck, carving out nearly 20 seconds at one point, before the final climb saw the catch made and Pedersen, Van Aert and Del Toro burst forth towards the line.
1. Mads Pedersen (Den) Lidl-Trek, 180km in 3:50:24 2. Wout van Aert (Bel) Visma-Lease a Bike, at same time 3. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2s 4. Rémy Rochas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +5s 5. Dorian Godon (Fra) Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale 6. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe 7. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious 8. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech 9. Orluis Aular (Ven) Movistar 10. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time
General Classification after stage 13
1. Isaac Del Toro (Mex) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 46:32:59 2. Juan Ayuso (Spa) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +38s 3. Antonio Tiberi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious, +1:18 4. Simon Yates (GBr) Visma-Lease a Bike, +1:20 5. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +1:35 6. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +2:07 7. Giulio Ciccone, (Ita) Lidl-Trek, +2:20 8. Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, +2:40 9. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +2:50 10. Derek Gee (Can) Israel-Premier Tech, +2:54
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
After cutting his teeth on local and national newspapers, James began at Cycling Weekly as a sub-editor in 2000 when the current office was literally all fields.
Eventually becoming chief sub-editor, in 2016 he switched to the job of full-time writer, and covers news, racing and features.
A lifelong cyclist and cycling fan, James's racing days (and most of his fitness) are now behind him. But he still rides regularly, both on the road and on the gravelly stuff.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Trade-in your pre-loved bike and grab an exclusive discount during Decathlon's Bank Holiday and Half Term Buyback Event
Geraint Thomas to move into management role at Ineos Grenadiers after retirement - reports
