A beaten sprinter usually has an excuse, but Bryan Coquard knew that trying to follow Mads Pedersen up the finishing straight on Avenida Boucau was an exercise in chasing shadows.
“Everybody is talking about Evenepoel, but I think Pedersen might be the strongest rider on the Vuelta a España,” Coquard said after he came home a distant second on stage 13.
Coquard’s opinion was coloured by direct experience, of course, but it was hardly an outlandish one. On the drag to the line in Montilla, Pedersen’s strength brooked no argument. Pascal Ackermann’s long-range acceleration forced Pedersen to open his own sprint from distance, but the Trek-Segafredo was able to maintain his effort for over 300 metres to claim a comprehensive victory.
Pedersen had already placed second on three successive days in the opening week of this Vuelta, including on the uphill finale in Laguardia, and this victory gives him a commanding lead of 151 points in the green jersey standings.
Ordinarily, a win like this would also place Pedersen among the obvious favourites for the World Championships in Wollongong later this month, but the Dane had already ruled himself out of the trip to the Antipodes before the Vuelta began. His effervescence in Spain hasn’t hastened a change of heart.
“I know the shape is super good, but I also have a life next to cycling and I also have a family at home. I don’t see them enough,” Pedersen said when he took a seat in the post-stage press conference. “At one point, you have to call it a day. If I had to do the Worlds, I would have had to go straight from here to Australia, and that would have made it seven weeks away from home. I think mentally that would not be a great idea.
“I’m super happy and super proud of the season I had so far. But I think if I take it a step too far or over the limit, it might affect the season of next year and this is not a great idea. We made the decision not to Worlds. We’re happy with the season we’ve had so far – and seeing my wife again will also be pretty nice.”
Pedersen already claimed the rainbow bands in Yorkshire in 2019, before adding Gent-Wevelgem a year later and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne in 2021. This current campaign, however, has seen him produce his most consistent body of work.
The 26-year-old was already among the peloton’s form riders when he picked up stages at Étoile de Bessèges and Paris-Nice in March, and he capped a fine Tour de France with an assured win in Saint-Étienne. Victory amid…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…