"I ended up doing most of the work" - Mathias Vacek rues lack of help from Romain Bardet after doomed late attack on stage 13 of 2025 Giro d'Italia

A key teammate of Mads Pedersen throughout the first 13 stages at the 2025 Giro d'Italia, Mathias Vacek was once again impressive in a brutally tough finale to stage 13. Although the Czech himself came up short in his quest to win a stage, Pedersen powered to the victory at the line.

As mentioned, Vacek himself came up short in the fight for the stage win, but the Czech was prominent once again thanks to an attack ahead of the finale alongside Romain Bardet. "The attack wasn’t planned. When Bardet went for it on the descent, I decided to try and follow him. Once we hit the flat, we had a few seconds’ lead. That’s when the team told me to push on with the move, so I gave it a go," he explained in a post-stage interview afterwards. "Unfortunately, Bardet isn’t as fast as I am on the flat, so I ended up doing most of the work and using more energy."

"When the peloton caught us with about 600 meters to go, I saw Mads was perfectly positioned and knew he had a real shot," Vacek continues. "The team was fantastic again today — I gave it everything, came close, but we won with Mads, and that’s what matters."

As for whether or not he ever truly believed in his own stage winning chances, Vacek admits it was unlikely. "Honestly, our lead never grew beyond 16 seconds by the end of the descent, and there were still a lot of kilometres to go. The peloton was flying, though I was hoping they’d ease up a bit once we hit the flat. In the end, it played out the way it did," he concludes. "Still, I’m really happy for Mads and for the whole team — we’ve already won five stages and had multiple podium finishes. You could say we’re taking over this Giro!"