Thirty seconds after a lung-busting finale in Matera, the pink jersey, Mads Pedersen is hunched over his handlebars when his teammate Giulio Ciccone wheels up to him, with the result yet to be announced, and embraces his leader and tells him that he thinks he has won. It’s a genuine, warm yet calm exchange and reveals a lot about the space Lidl-Trek are in at this Giro d’Italia: they are confident, unselfish, professional and most importantly they ride as a cohesive unit, willing to work hard for each other.
Moments later the result is confirmed: Pedersen has taken a hat-trick of Giro stage wins in a matter of five days. This stage win was by far the most challenging for the rider who this morning signed a lifetime deal with his team. A team he has given so much to and has received so much back. At the finish Pedersen said: “What a Giro we are having and what a team I have around me.”
The best evidence of this team work was what Mathias Vacek did in the finale. The Czech rider was incredible — between 4 kilometres and 200 metres to the line, he was always in the top three positions in the group. His stint at the front included reeling in an attack on the final climb by Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), pacing virtually the whole of the ascent, monitoring the front closing down moves, then shepherding the returning Pedersen through the final bends, before leading him out perfectly at 200m to go. It was one of the most remarkable domestique performances in years. For all of Pedersen’s grit, positioning and impressive finish, he would not have won if it were not for Vacek.
From the evidence of the final five kilometres, Vacek was clearly strong enough to win himself and yet he still sacrificed himself for his leader. After the finish his sports director Maxime Monfort said: “I think he (Vacek) could have won himself” but the team decided to stick to their original plan and work for Pedersen. That kind of dedication from Vacek to work for a common cause and also to trust that it will work out is hard to foster but Lidl-Trek seem to have done so perfectly. After an impressive fifth place on stage two’s time trial, Vacek sits in third place on GC and wears the white jersey as leader of the youth category. Pedersen obviously retains his top spot on the overall and their GC rider Ciccone sits 19th on the classification, 44 seconds behind the first overall contender, Roglič. The team is flying high at the Giro and are bound to get more success in the next 16 stages. But, this is not the first run of form for the squad this year — all through the spring Classics, Lidl-Trek were consistently challenging the two best teams in Alpecin-Deceuninck and UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
The performances of Pedersen and his team typify the transition they have both made to become one of the best riders and squads in the world. The Dane himself has been unmatchable in the reduced bunch sprints at this Giro. He is the master of the slide — starting climbs in one of the top positions, which allows him to drift further back in the group while staying within his limit and still remaining in the bunch by the top. He did so masterfully today. With 1.5km to go, with Vacek on the front, Pedersen wasn’t even in the top 30 or 40 riders but he came flying back right on time to be led out by his teammate. The final sprint wasn’t easy nor was he well clear of the rest of the field like on stages one and three — today he faced strong challenges from Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain-Victorious) on his left and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) on his right — but he still won.
Despite losing a key rider in Søren Kragh Andersen after his crash yesterday and subsequent DNS today, the team still managed to stamp their control on the finale of the stage. Of course, good team work doesn’t always get results. Just ask Team Visma-Lease a Bike, who no one could say don’t work hard for each other and yet they have struggled for results so far this season. Winning also requires execution, something Lidl-Trek are mastering at this Giro. They are well prepared for each stage, knowing the parcours inside out. It was a nervy finale with splits all over the place but the team were as cool as ice, relaying the information about Pedersen’s whereabouts to Vacek who was on the front so that he could ease up at the right time to allow his leader to come back to the front. At the team bus at the finish, Maxime Monfort admitted that the team watched the finale of the same stage from five years ago when Arnaud Démare won, knowing that they could be faced with a similar situation today with Pedersen having to fight back to the front in order to launch his sprint for victory.
In 2020 Démare won four stages of the Giro, Pedersen is already on three — it would be difficult to bet against him matching and even surpassing the Frenchman’s tally. With their Giro already being a resounding success, Lidl-Trek’s appetite is insatiable.
