That was richly deserved. In fact, perhaps there has not been more deserving a winner all season. Mads Pedersen took victory in stage 15 of the Vuelta a España thanks to his perseverance, his constant attacking and riding a three-week race like 21 individual Classics.
It was deserved for being in the break five times already, and in four of the last five stages, including the day that finished up the Angliru – a stage absolutely not built for a rouleur-sprinter-whatever the hell Mads Pedersen is.
It was deserved for unluckily missing out on stage glory earlier in the race – in particular on stage three.
It was deserved for then overcoming the tactics and game plans of his rivals at the end of stage 15, when it was him against the world, him the only one with a big fat target on his back, him the only one who everyone was aiming to deny.
It was deserved for his Lidl-Trek team who fielded not just Pedersen but four other teammates in the break on the road to Monforte de Lemos, practically the whole team committed to Team Mads, a collective mission which finally gets its reward. “I have to say it has to make the victory even sweeter, the way the team worked the whole day, five guys in the first group. The boys were working so hard to make it possible,” he beamed.
Pedersen had to snuff out opportunistic moves from his rivals
It was deserved for maturely dealing with a Tour de France exclusion he didn’t agree with but understood because Jonathan Milan too deserved leadership, and rebounding from that disappointment by approaching the Vuelta in the exact same manner as he took to the Giro d’Italia: by being the race’s most active protagonist.
It was deserved for coming back to the Vuelta to chase the same jersey he’d already won in 2022, but doing so with the vigour, excitement and enthusiasm of a debutant who’s worried that it might be their first and last ever chance.
It was deserved for closing in on winning two Grand Tour points jerseys in the same year, and now just being one away from completing the set of the Giro-Tour-Vuelta that only five riders have ever achieved, and no one since Mark Cavendish in 2013.
It was deserved for his remarkable consistency in Grand Tour racing, for ensuring that he has now won at least one stage in six of his last seven three-week races, and who’s to say he won’t win another one in the next six days of the Vuelta.
It was deserved for being, arguably, the best bike rider this season, certainly the most all-round and versatile.
Mads Pedersen’s victory in the Vuelta denied 45 other breakaway companions, and prevented meritorious winners such as Egan Bernal or Louis Vervaeke, but no one can deny that the 29-year-old Dane richly and profoundly deserved this stage success. “It makes it even nicer to win when everyone was looking at us and everyone knew our plan and then we still succeeded with the victory – that’s absolutely incredible,” he smiled, again. “I really wanted to have a win and today we succeeded."
Chapeau, Mads Pedersen. Always riding with panache, always approaching life with unwavering determination.
