photo credits @ Giro d’Italia
Mads Pedersen profited from a textbook ride from his Lidl-Trek teammates to claim the opening stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia in Albania to secure the first maglia rosa. Lidl-Trek were active on the front of the peloton throughout, with their infernal tempo proving too fast for GC hopeful Thymen Arensman, who failed to stay on terms.
Lidl-Trek put in a masterclass in Albania to whittle down the peloton over two ascents of a tough finishing climb before propelling their man Pedersen to victory and the pink jersey in Tirana.
Pedersen launched from the wheel of teammate Mathias Vacek, exiting the final bend before holding off a late surge by Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), while Orluis Aular (Movistar) took third place, followed by Tom Pidcock (Q35.6 Pro Cycling) finished fifth in his Giro debut.
A nasty crash on the final descent with five kilometers remaining resulted in Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) abandoning while, several big-name riders for the general classification – notably Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) and Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) – were also distanced on the second ascent of the finish climb as Lidl-Trek put down the hammer.
Gee crossed the line in a chasing group 57 seconds down on the leaders while Arensman shipped a whopping 1’35″ and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) well over five minutes.
Jay Vine (UAE Emirates-XRG) also came down in the crash and crossed the line four minutes down on Pedersen. Earlier in the stage, Vine’s teammate Juan Ayuso – one of the pre-race favorites – hit the deck ahead of the race’s first climb. But, Ayuso was able to ride back into contention and finished safely in the main group alongside the likes Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe duo Primoz Roglic and Jai Hindley, and the Yates brothers, Adam (UAE) and Simon (Visma).
Earlier, Lidl-Trek made their intentions known from the outset of the 160km stage from Durres, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Pedersen’s teammates were a constant fixture on the front of the peloton, keeping the day’s five-man break on a tight leash.
Joining Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarche-Wanty) in this move were Alessandro Verre (Arkea B&B Hotels), Alessandro Tonelli (Polti VisitMalta) and Manuele Tarozzi (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane), as well as Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis).
The quintet worked well together, but never saw their lead grow above two minutes. Van der Hoorn was the first to be dropped on the climb of Cracen, where Moniquet pipped Verre to the king of the mountain points to do enough to secure the race’s first maglia azzurra.
Despite an attack by Verre on the descent, the remaining four escapees regrouped before being swallowed up by the pack as they rode through Tirana ahead of two laps of a challenging finish circuit that included the seven-kilometre climb of Surrel.
Lidl-Trek’s fast tempo soon ended the hopes of sprinters Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Olav Kooij (Visma) as the pack was whittled down ahead of the bell. On the second ascent, Giulio Ciccone took the reins from Carlos Verona to inflict yet more damage – this time jettisoning the Australian sprinter Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) before putting GC contenders Gee and Arensman into the red.
Van Aert looked to be going the same way, but the Belgian rallied to ensure he was present for the finale – despite admitting later that he “suffered so much just to hang on”.
After Ciccone led the riders over the summit, the pack was split near the bottom of the fast, technical descent into Tirana when Landa skidded off the road via a lamppost. Vine was among the handful of riders who also hit the deck as a huge split meant just 35 riders contested the sprint.
Roglic’s teammates momentarily took the lead before Lidl-Trek returned with Vacek piloting Pedersen into the final kilometer and towards the final bend. Pedersen exited the corner with Van Aert and Aular on his wheel before putting in his decisive kick as the road ramped up slightly towards the line.
Van Aert found himself boxed in by Aular but still managed to push Pedersen all the way – a sign that he could soon end his eight-month wait for a victory.
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