Mads Pedersen

Mads Pedersen (born 18 December 1995) is a Danish professional racing cyclist, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has won stages in all three Grand Tours Ã¢ÂÂ the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a EspaÃÂ±a. He won the men's road race at the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, England, becoming the first and so far only Danish cyclist to win the men's World Championship road race title.

Career

Early career

In 2013, Pedersen won the ParisÃ¢ÂÂRoubaix Juniors and went on to claim the silver medal in the World Championships junior road race. Pedersen won GhentÃ¢ÂÂWevelgem U23, the U23 Tour of Norway, and a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir prior to turning professional.

Early TrekÃ¢ÂÂSegafredo years (2017Ã¢ÂÂ2021)

In August 2016 announced that they had signed Pedersen through to 2018.

In his neo-pro season, Pedersen was named in the start list for the 2017 Giro d'Italia. He also became national champion of Denmark, and took overall victory in the Tour du Poitou Charentes after winning the time trial. In September 2017, Pedersen took overall victory at the Danmark Rundt.

In April 2018, Pedersen finished in second place in the Tour of Flanders following a spirited break away. Pedersen attacked ahead of the Koppenberg with just over remaining, and was joined by Dylan van Baarle () and Sebastian Langeveld (). Eventual winner Niki Terpstra () caught and passed Pedersen on the final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont and rode to victory, but Pedersen was strong enough to hold off world champion Peter Sagan () and the chasing peloton to become the youngest podium finisher in 40 years.

On 29 September 2019, Pedersen won the World Road Race Championship in a rain-soaked race, in and around Harrogate, in Yorkshire, England. He is the first Danish cyclist to win a men's world championship road race title. In August 2020, he was named in the startlist for the 2020 Tour de France. He did not win any stages and held the white jersey for best young rider for one day.

After the Tour was over he won a stage and the points classification in the 2020 BinckBank Tour, and won the 2020 GentÃ¢ÂÂWevelgem. Both of these races were held late in the season due to the COVID pandemic. In 2021 he won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and took a stage victory in the Tour of Norway.

Grand Tour victories: 2022Ã¢ÂÂpresent

In 2022, Pedersen won the points classification in Circuit de la Sarthe and ÃÂtoile de BessÃÂ¨ges and had top 10 finishes in MilanÃ¢ÂÂSan Remo, the Tour of Flanders and GentÃ¢ÂÂWevelgem. During the 2022 Tour de France he was active early in the race as the Grand DÃÂ©part was held in Denmark, however he had no success. At the end of the second week he was involved in a seven-rider breakaway with teammate Quinn Simmons. Simmons drove a hard pace up the CotÃÂ© de Saint-Romain-en-Gal and with just under 11 km to go Pedersen launched an attack. Only Fred Wright and Hugo Houle could go with him. At the finish line, Pedersen outsprinted both of them to claim the stage win. He had a strong 2022 Vuelta a EspaÃÂ±a, winning the points competition as well as three individual stages.

Pedersen started his 2023 campaign with stage wins at the ÃÂtoile de BessÃÂ¨ges and ParisÃ¢ÂÂNice. He again took multiple top 5 and 10 finishes in the spring classics, but had no victories. In May, he won stage six of the Giro d'Italia in a sprint finish, after finishing on the podium on stages three and five. In July, he won stage eight of the Tour de France, finishing second overall to Jasper Philipsen in the points classification. In August, he narrowly miised out on a medal in the World Road Race Championships, losing the sprint for third to Tadej PogaÃÂar. He took two more victories in the remainder of the season, winning stage five and the overall title of the Danmark Rundt, followed by the Hamburg Cyclassics.

Pedersen started 2024 with a winning streak, taking a stage win and the overall of ÃÂtoile de BessÃÂ¨ges, followed by three stage wins and the overall title at the Tour de la Provence. In March, he took two second place finishes on stage of ParisÃ¢ÂÂNice, followed by fourth at MilanÃ¢ÂÂSan Remo. He ended his drought of classics wins, outsprinting to take GentÃ¢ÂÂWevelgem. In early April, he finished third at ParisÃ¢ÂÂRoubaix, behind Philipsen and van der Poel.

In 2025 Pedersen won Gent-Wevelgem for the third time after a solo of 55km. He had a successful 2025 Giro d'Italia, winning the points competition, as well as four stages.

In his first race of 2026 at the Volta Comunitat Valencia, Pedersen was involved in a high-speed crash and fractured his wrist and collarbone. The injury required surgery, and he is expected to miss several months.