The hottest name in this year's Giro d'Italia has been Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), who has won half of the six stages and also holds the overall lead. The 29-year-old Dane has written himself into the history books of the Italian cycling tour - the last time Mario Cipollini managed to achieve something similar was in 1997, when the sprint ace won stages 1, 3 and 4.
It took Pedersen 24 hours longer to catch up to Cipollini, but his winning percentage is still impressive. Even Tadej Pogačar, who dominated the 2024 Giro with six stage wins and the overall victory, was not as successful in the early stages of the Tour.
The 2019 world champion honestly admitted that neither he nor the team expected such a winning streak. "It's crazy, more than we ever dreamed. We wanted to be as good as possible in Albania and we were hoping to grab the pink jersey there. But now that we've won three out of six stages - it's crazy. I'm incredibly proud of the team and grateful that everyone has put in so much to make this possible. I'm just really proud and happy with everything we're achieving now."
Thanks to a strong start, Pedersen has extended his overall lead over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) to 17 seconds. He could lose that on stage 7 today, as the route is mountainous and ends with a mountain finish. Pedersen could remain in the lead for a long time as the most active rider. Can Pedersen maintain his high level until the end of the Giro, with shorter tours, Paris-Nice and the spring classics behind him?
"I did a little more endurance training in the winter to stay in good shape for as long as possible, but I agreed with the coach that I had to put everything on the line in the first half of the Giro to try to get the pink jersey, because it could happen that my 'engine' would crash later," Pedersen said.
Mads has some exciting news for you... 🩷 #MadsForever pic.twitter.com/8IJ5jYsFtv
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) May 14, 2025
"Had I felt good, I would have loved to contest the stage victory also today, I'm a racer and I want to win, but when you hit the deck like I did today, it's not that easy." - @Mads__Pedersen reacts to a less than ideal Stage 6 #GirodItalia
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) May 15, 2025
📰 https://t.co/yMSznKHOfl pic.twitter.com/dtXdplV8zM
