Mads Pedersen has earned himself an important place in the annals of the Giro d'Italia. The Lidl-Trek athlete has in fact become the first rider in the last 28 years to win three stages in the first five stages of the Corsa Rosa.

The last person to achieve such a feat was Mario Cipollini in 1997, when he won stages 1, 3 and 4. Pedersen took a day longer to achieve the same haul, but his winning pace remains impressive: not even Tadej Pogačar, who dominated the 2024 Giro with six stage wins in total, had managed to maintain such dominance in the early stages.

A performance beyond expectations

The former world champion admitted that neither he nor the team expected such a performance: 'It's crazy, more than we could have dreamed of. We wanted to be at our best in Albania to take the pink jersey, but to win three out of five stages is incredible. I'm super proud of the team and how everyone worked to make this possible.'

Tactically, none of the stages were easy, despite all of them finishing in sprints. The Lidl-Trek team clearly had a detailed plan in place to make the most of the terrain and ensure Pedersen had the best possible conditions for success.

With these results, Pedersen extended his overall lead to 17 seconds over Roglič and consolidated his lead in the points classification. It remains to be seen how long he can maintain his exceptional form, considering he has been winning continuously since the Tour de la Provence in February.

In terms of Fantacycling, Pedersen has already scored over 600 fantasy points, a haul that would allow him to remain in the top 10 for points scored, even if he were to retire now!