"He was in a league of his own. He beat us fair and square" - Mads Pedersen runner-up to Tadej Pogacar after Tour of Flanders 2025
Cycling
Mads Pedersen has been riding out of his skin so far this Spring Classics season. That impressive form continued once again for the Dane at the 2025 Tour of Flanders too, although despite his best efforts, the Lidl-Trek leader was forced to settle for 2nd place behind the all-conquering Tadej Pogacar at the line.
Having shown some very impressive climbing legs already this year, Pedersen was more than a match for the likes of Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert on the cobbled climbs for almost the entirety of the day. On the last ascent of the Oude Kwaremont though, Pedersen and co were finally and fatally distanced by the most brutal of Pogacar's attacks. From there, attentions turned to the fight for 2nd and up against Van der Poel and Van Aert, Pedersen still had a trump card to play - Jasper Stuyven, with the Flanders native sacrificing himself in the finale to give his team leader a perfect leadout in the sprint for the line.
Post-race, Pedersen was quick to pay tribute to Pogacar. "With headwind and four other guys, I hoped we could catch him. I said before the race that you never know, and the race is never over until you cross the finish line. But today, he was in a league of his own. He beat us fair and square. He dropped us on Kwaremont and increased his lead," he analysed.
As expected, Stuyven too was credited by Pedersen. "It was pretty ideal to have me and Jasper in the group. He knows I like to start the sprint from a high speed. With a kilometer to go, there was a bit of hesitation, and the pace dropped, but with 500 meters to go, Jasper picked up the pace, and with 250 meters to go, I saw my chance to launch the sprint, and that was enough," he recalled. "So thanks to Jasper for making the perfect lead-out and thanks to the whole team today, they rode really impressively."
And so, whilst the wait for a first ever Monument win goes on for the former world champion, Pedersen is heading to next weekend's Paris-Roubaix with renewed hope and vigour. "It suits me better without as many climbs. So far, it’s been a great classics campaign, and I would love to finish it with a win in Roubaix. Of all the monuments, I think it suits me the best. But there are so many strong guys there. But nothing is guaranteed, and we’ll fight for the win," he concluded.
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#RVV25 @Mads__Pedersen launched his sprint from group 2 with 250m to go and was strong enough 💪👊 to secure second 🥈 behind Pogi with @Jasperstuyven 5th after an excellent ride out there today too 👏 pic.twitter.com/mdD1u34QHb
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) April 6, 2025
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- Why? He is being too hard on himself. No sane person will blame him if he stopped there and then.
KerisVroom14-04-2025 - You can find a quick explantion by searching for "finish line camera howtown". The camera only captures the vertical line. The photo that we see is a composite of vertical lines.KerisVroom14-04-2025
- Let us not go off the deep end for a start it us not attempted murder. At most common assault. Country dependent. Yes horrible to see and ob not a real fan of the sport or just a VDP hater. This has been going on for years look at Froome in the TDF and other sports such as football. That is soccer to the North Americans. Let the police do there job and hope the offender gets what is coming to him or even her.paultryan200214-04-2025
- Sure but talk about predictable comments, do we really need those (although this time it was more rambling)? Don’t love the media running after him to hear about it each time though. Adrie isn’t even that well informed about his son’s work, can’t they go interview people who have more interesting comments to provide like maybe his mechanic or masseur or nutritionist or driver,oh yes, they’re probably bound by nda’s, which is why no-one tells Adrie anything of importance, didn’t even know his son was sick before Flanders so some of his comments there turned out pointless.Mistermaumau14-04-2025
- I think with Tadej it’s often a case of his mind’s will being stronger than his racing intelligence, he’s lucky to be strong enough to recover from potential mistakes so knows he never has to worry too much about going past his natural limit but under pressure he makes more misjudgment than the average elite pro. I think Mohorič knows that about him too and possibly saved him from himself.Mistermaumau14-04-2025
- Thanks, strange, I would have thought with digital resolution and light performance these days, you’d see crystal clear high res images like you may have seen if you saw the close up of WVA knee wounds pic taken in-race as he zoomed by. Do you by any chance know what’s special about photo finish tech that leads to this?Mistermaumau14-04-2025
- Not to forget how their star rider is willing to play domestique for sprint stages, a few ladies could learn a lot from this. I was thinking, if either of Tadej or MVDP didn’t exist, the other could have reached Merckx monument level but then again, would they have the same motivation? Is it a coincidence they both have so many already and that the only other two who had more also rode concurrently? The one guy who pays the price of it is WVA who may come away empty handed, the best rider to never win a monument is surely worth an article.Mistermaumau14-04-2025
- So good it never happened, this team with MVDP is one of the reasons cycling hasn’t gone to shyt too much yet, I respect Tadej but I don’t think he’s even given much thought to the who and why of financing in sport and how naïve athletes just get used as little pawns in a bigger game.Mistermaumau14-04-2025
- It was still an incredible debute and winning this race is very much possible for Pogi if gives it a few more years experience. I was wondering if he didn't get good intel from the car and seemed to be trying to attack round the corner or at least apply pressure which it was just not the right place. Maybe the bikes played a part in why he didn't realise himself but I do feel given his stature and being the first ever Paris Roubaix for Poggi, if he needed more support from those around him in knowing the corners that you simply can't take like normal. I remember a gravel lane I took too hard once and it was a gentle turn but if you try to take hard it will throw you. Seems it was pretty common knowledge now for the others in the event but I didn't know and it ended up bloody and bruised all because I wasn't aware of this corner where the normal rules don't apply. I'd suspect similar myself.HoopoeChai14-04-2025
- That's how the finish line camera worksKerisVroom14-04-2025