Mads Pedersen fourth in Roubaix: "I would have loved to be on the podium, but I didn't have the legs for that"

Mads Pedersen was a strong outsider for Paris-Roubaix. He's been very consistent and strong throughout the spring and showed it again today in France. He's put on a great ride that had him in fight for the win, but didn't have the legs in the final kilometers to match the very best.

“I would have loved to be on the podium, but I didn't have the legs for that today. I'm just happy that I finally rode a final - well, sort of a final - in Paris-Roubaix," the Dane said after the race. He has been in the front groups when Wout van Aert first attacked the race with over 100 kilometers to go, and tried to bridge across to the front himself in Arenberg. Eventually he reached the front and had the legs throughout the following hours, remaining steady on the bike and continuing to match the best.

“Follow, follow, follow. I hoped it would be a sprint, but I also knew that they would go for it at the Carrefour. I had to hope that I could follow, but I couldn't," he described. At Carrefour de l'Arbre he couldn't match the attacks of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. The latter attacked twice again after his puncture, dragging alongside him Jasper Philipsen who completed the podium.

Right behind Pedersen kept working with Stefan Küng and Filippo Ganna, but outsprinted them to ride over the finish in fourth place. With sixth at Milano-Sanremo and third at the Tour of Flanders - inbetween other results - Pedersen completes a very strong run of spring classics.