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Straits Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Unstoppable Pedersen pips Van Aert to win Giro stage 13, Del Toro extends lead
FILE PHOTO: Cycling - Giro d'Italia - Stage 11 - Viareggio to Castelnovo ne' Monti - Italy - May 21, 2025 UAE Team Emirates's Isaac Del Toro celebrates on the podium wearing the maglia rosa jersey REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Cycling - Giro d'Italia - Stage 11 - Viareggio to Castelnovo ne' Monti - Italy - May 21, 2025 Lidl - Trek's Mads Pedersen celebrates on the podium wearing the maglia ciclamino jersey REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini/File Photo Mads Pedersen won his fourth stage of the 2025 Giro d'Italia when he sprinted to victory on Friday's stage 13, beating Wout van Aert to the line while Isaac del Toro marginally extended his overall lead to retain the pink jersey. As the riders neared the finish of the 180 km ride from Rovigo to Vicenza, Pedersen was fourth when he launched his bid for victory on the uphill sprint, squeezing his way past as Van Aert stayed close on his wheel. Del Toro had done well to earn bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint but the 21-year-old did not have the legs to challenge the sprint heavyweights as he settled for third, leaving Pedersen and Van Aert to battle it out for victory. Ultimately, it was Pedersen who powered through to the finish to take the win by less than a bike length even as Van Aert tried his best to make a last-ditch lunge to overtake him. "What an incredible Giro this is. Timing my effort was dictated by instinct. I had to open up on the right side close to the barriers. So I went a bit earlier than I wanted to," Pedersen said. "On such a hard day and a finale like this, everyone has burning legs in the finale. It was definitely nice to have seen it before. "I'm happy with this win and adding another 50 points for the Maglia Ciclamino (purple jersey). I'm overwhelmed with winning again." On a stage with several breakaways that did not come to fruition, it was Romain Bardet of Picnic-PostNL who looked for the win when he attacked on the twisting and turning downhill section near the end. He was joined by Lidl-Trek's Mathias Vacek as the pair stormed into a 17-second lead with four kilometres left. But two kilometres later, that lead was cut to 10 seconds and they could not keep the chasers at bay with less than a kilometre left on the final climb, as the Alpecin–Deceuninck team led the charge. "We first tried to win the stage with Mathias Vacek. He deserves to get his chance too," Pedersen added. "If there was a hesitation in the peloton, Romain Bardet and him would have had the possibility to win. It was ideal, I could sit behind and let other teams work." That was when Pedersen accelerated to beat Van Aert while Del Toro finished third, two seconds behind after nearly four hours of racing. However, Del Toro now leads his UAE Team Emirates teammate Juan Ayuso by 38 seconds in the general classification while Antonio Tiberi of Bahrain Victorious is one minute and 18 seconds behind. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Unstoppable Pedersen beats Van Aert in uphill sprint to win Giro stage 13
FILE PHOTO: Cycling - Giro d'Italia - Stage 11 - Viareggio to Castelnovo ne' Monti - Italy - May 21, 2025 UAE Team Emirates's Isaac Del Toro celebrates on the podium wearing the maglia rosa jersey REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Cycling - Giro d'Italia - Stage 11 - Viareggio to Castelnovo ne' Monti - Italy - May 21, 2025 Lidl - Trek's Mads Pedersen celebrates on the podium wearing the maglia ciclamino jersey REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini/File Photo Mads Pedersen won his fourth stage of the 2025 Giro d'Italia when he sprinted to victory on Friday's stage 13, beating Wout van Aert to the line while Isaac del Toro maintained his overall lead to retain the pink jersey. As the riders neared the finish of the 180 km ride from Rovigo to Vicenza, Pedersen was fourth when he launched his bid for victory on the uphill sprint as Van Aert stayed close on his wheel. Del Toro had done well to earn bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint but the 21-year-old did not have the legs to challenge the sprint heavyweights as he settled for third, leaving Pedersen and Van Aert to battle it out for victory. Ultimately, it was Pedersen who powered through to the finish to take the win by less than a bike length even as Van Aert tried his best to make a last-ditch lunge to overtake him. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Pedersen sprints to take Giro stage three and retake pink jersey
Cycling - Giro d'Italia - Stage 2 - Tirana to Tirana - Albania - May 10, 2025 Lidl - Trek's Mads Pedersen celebrates on the podium after stage 2 REUTERS/Florion Goga Cycling - Giro d'Italia - Stage 2 - Tirana to Tirana - Albania - May 10, 2025 Lidl - Trek's Mads Pedersen celebrates on the podium after stage 2 REUTERS/Florion Goga VLORE, Albania - Mads Pedersen outsprinted Corbin Strong to win stage three of the Giro d'Italia on Sunday, the Dane's second stage victory of this year's race which also saw him take back the overall leader's jersey from Primoz Roglic. Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who won the opening stage, took to the front in the sprint finish and held off New Zealander Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) by half a wheel, with Venezuela's Orluis Aular (Movistar) finishing third, as he did in stage one. The stage victory gave Pedersen a 10-second bonus, which means he retakes the pink jersey from race favourite Roglic, having begun the day one second behind the Slovenian. "Wow, to have two stage victories already and now back in the pink that's exactly what we wanted today," Pedersen said. The stage, a 160-km ride starting and finishing in Vlore and the last of three stages in Albania, was dominated by an early breakaway which included Saturday's time-trial winner, Briton Joshua Tarling (INEOS Grenadiers). Having opened up a gap of over three minutes on the peloton, the six-man group started to splinter as the bunch began to eat into their lead, with the riders all back together for the final 16 kilometres to set up the sprint finish. Bahrain Victorious controlled the front of the group in the final kilometres, looking to set Antonio Tiberi up for the win, but in the closing stages, Pedersen's colleagues Mathias Vacek and Giulio Ciccone had the Dane perfectly positioned. Pedersen attacked early with Strong following but nobody was going to deny the new race leader another victory, and after relinquishing the overall lead to Roglic on Saturday, he will now wear the pink jersey when the race reaches Italy. "This was the plan from this morning to put a good pace on the long climb to control it for ourselves and give me a breather," Pedersen said. "Then from the climb on it was controlling as far as we could and it was exactly as we wanted and then Ciccone and Vacek there doing an amazing lead out." After Monday's rest day, Tuesday's stage four will be a flat 189-km ride from Alberobello to Lecce. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
