"I just couldn’t follow" - Mads Pedersen sixth for second consecutive time at Milano-Sanremo, broken by Pogacar attack

Mads Pedersen dreamed big into Milano-Sanremo. He proved to have great form, and from the sprinters he was without a doubt within those who could climb the best. Trek rode a near perfect race, but the attacks were too difficult for the Dane to match.

“The teamwork was really really impressive today. Everyone was committed from kilometer 0 and everyone did a really good job so chapeau to the boys for that," Pedersen said in a post-race interview. "I am a bit sorry that I didn’t give them more than sixth place but I really want to thank them for the teamwork today. It was just pretty crazy at the end."

He and 2021 winner Jasper Philipsen looked to feature in the fight for the win. They both looked strong when UAE came to the front on the Poggio di Sanremo, but Stuyven was caught behind a split just before the attack of Pogacar, and when that happened Pedersen could not follow. “I made a little mistake on the Poggio to go left when I knew it would open up on the right so I had to move fully across and then do a small sprint onto the climb but there was more headwind on the Poggio than expected so, in the end, I had a good position," he describes.

“At the bottom of the Poggio, the four guys were just too far in front to catch. It was a pity that me and Jappe (Jasper Stuyven, ed.) were not together straightaway, he was caught a bit behind near the top when Trentin opened a gap, because we could have kept turning and maybe, you have to put maybe in big letters, we could have gotten at least a little bit closer to go to the podium but it is how it is in the end. It was a descent result.”

Pedersen could only continue suffering all the way to the top, cresting in the second chasing group. He rode to sixth on the day, outsprinted by Soren Kragh Andersen to the line, but seeing the podium escape ahead of him.

"When they went I was fourth position or something but seriously, I just couldn’t follow. That’s how it is. I think me and Jasper showed that now we are right up there racing in the finals of these key races and while it wasn’t for the win today, we are definitely there so it is a good sign for the start of this Classics period," he concluded.