ANALYSIS | Who is Denmark’s greatest cyclist right now: Mads Pedersen or Jonas Vingegaard?

We are currently living through the era of Mads Pedersen. The 29-year-old Dane, a former world champion, put together the grand tour of his career at the 2025 Giro d’Italia. Five stages into the race, Pedersen already had three wins to his name, including a punishing uphill sprint while wearing the Maglia Rosa.

By the end of the three week race, Mads Pedersen won four stages and the points classification, proving himself the best sprinter/classics style rider in the race. Ahead of Wout van Aert!

But his Giro exploits have reignited a broader debate in Danish cycling circles: who is the nation’s number one rider, Mads Pedersen or two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard?

On paper, they couldn’t be more different. Vingegaard is a Grand Tour general classification specialist, a high-altitude climbing machine capable of dismantling the best in the world on long mountain stages. Pedersen, meanwhile, is a stage hunter, a classics star, and a sprinter who thrives on chaotic finishes, short climbs, and raw physical power. In fact, Pedersen doesn’t even bother with altitude training, where Vingegaard thrives!

It’s a comparison of two riders operating in completely different spheres of the sport. But with Pedersen’s relentless form this season, and his growing list of career wins, it’s only natural that comparisons have emerged.

During the early stages of the Giro, Danish cycling legend Michael Rasmussen commented on the debate in an interview with Viaplay. He reminded fans of just how high the bar is when discussing Vingegaard:

"Should his (Mads Pedersen) many, many victories really be weighed against two overall Tour de France wins and two additional podium finishes?" asked Rasmussen. "Let’s not forget that. To stand on the podium four times at the Tour de France, that's seriously impressive.”

Rasmussen isn’t wrong, Vingegaard’s Tour de France CV is already historic. He won the race in both 2022 and 2023, beating Tadej Pogacar on both occasions. In 2022, it was his brutal performance on the Col du Granon that broke Pogacar’s spirit and reshuffled the Grand Tour hierarchy. In 2023, he was even more dominant, crushing the Slovenian in the stage 16 time trial by over a minute and then consolidating his lead with clinical climbing.

In fact, we as cycling fans owe Vingegaard one. If you think Pogacar makes cycling boring now, think again. If it wasn’t for Vingegaard, Pogacar would have won the past five editions of the Tour.

So thank you Jonas!

Vingegaard’s Grand Tour pedigree is second to none among active riders, perhaps only rivalled by Pogacar and Primoz Roglic. In addition to his Tour victories, Vingegaard finished second at the Vuelta a España and won the mountains classification at the Tour. He’s also a winner of the Critérium du Dauphiné, a key Tour warm-up race that he will return to this weekend.

His path to the top wasn’t easy either. Vingegaard had to usurp Primoz Roglic at Visma, a five-time Grand Tour winner and an all-time great in his own right. That transition could have broken a lesser rider, but Vingegaard used the opportunity to prove he was the future.

The fact he has had to beat not only Pogacar, arguably the greatest cyclist of this era, but also compete against the likes of Remco Evenepoel, a world champion in both road and time trial and a winner of both Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Vuelta, only strengthens his case.

And yet, despite the grandeur of Vingegaard’s achievements, Pedersen is putting together a résumé that demands respect.

He already has 54 professional wins to his name, compared to Vingegaard’s 38. Pedersen has won ten Grand Tour stages, five at the Giro, three at the 2022 Vuelta a España, and two at the Tour de France, while Vingegaard has six. Pedersen was world champion in 2019, Denmark’s only elite men’s road world title, achieved in cold, brutal conditions in Yorkshire where he outsprinted Matteo Trentin after one of the most brutal racing days we will ever see.

His palmarès in the classics is impressive. He’s won Gent–Wevelgem three times, a feat matched by only a handful of riders in history. He has also taken victory at Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne, and is consistently a factor at the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, and Milan-Sanremo.

What Pedersen lacks, however, is a Monument win. No thanks to Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar...

That single-day race win at the very top level in the spring, the kind that defines careers, is missing from his list. If he can secure one, then the comparison with Vingegaard becomes much closer. A Monument, alongside his Grand Tour stage haul, points jerseys, and rainbow jersey, would arguably complete the most diverse career of any Danish rider.

There’s also the question of competition, and this is where things get particularly interesting.

Vingegaard’s rivals are primarily GC specialists, and they are the best of the best. Pogacar is one of the most talented and versatile riders the sport has ever seen, capable of winning Monuments and Grand Tours alike. His 2024 season, where he completed the fabled Giro-Tour double while racking up stage wins and destroying the field, was historic. And yet, Vingegaard is the only rider to have beaten Pogacar at the Tour, and he’s done it twice.

His other rivals, as noted, include Roglic and Evenepoel, both Grand Tour winners and major threats in time trials and mountainous terrain. Vingegaard has risen through the most competitive GC field in a generation and emerged as arguably the strongest of the lot.

But Pedersen's rivals may be just as tough, albeit in different ways.

He races against Mathieu van der Poel, who has eight Monument wins, including the Tours of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Milano-Sanremo, and the World Championships. Van der Poel is the dominant force in one-day racing, combining sprinting, climbing, and supreme skills with an aggressive racing style that few can match.

Then there’s Tadej Pogacar again. Not content with dominating the Grand Tours, Pogacar has also won nine Monuments and, in 2025 alone, conquered both the Tour of Flanders and Liege. He finished ahead of Pedersen at both Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, with Pedersen finishing just behind in second in Flanders and third at Roubaix.

Pedersen also competes with Wout van Aert, a rider of immense power and ability even if we aren’t seeing it at the moment. Van Aert has come second in nearly every Monument and has a Tour de France stage win that few others can boast. While Van Aert still lacks a cobbled Monument win and a world title, it’s Van Aert who remains the more frequently tipped contender at the big races.

The rivalry between Pedersen and Van Aert is perhaps the most compelling in the classics scene. Pedersen has something Van Aert wants, a rainbow jersey. Van Aert has something Pedersen craves, a Monument victory. Both have won multiple Grand Tour stages. Both have led national teams. But right now, Pedersen is the one delivering results when it counts.

Ultimately, is Vingegaard the more historically significant rider? Yes. Two Tour de France titles, a second at the Vuelta, and consistent dominance at the highest altitude in the sport put him in rare company. No Danish rider has ever accomplished as much on GC, and very few worldwide have beaten Pogacar head-to-head.

But Pedersen’s career isn’t over. His range of achievements already are unlike anyone else’s in Danish history, especially with that rainbow jersey. Not the greatest climber. Not the best GC man. But a rider who can win anywhere, in any conditions, and against the best.