Mads Pedersen's season off to a great start with impressive Etoile de Bessèges win

It has been a successful start to the season for former World Champion Mads Pedersen, who has begun his campaign in France this year and in two race day, he's won one and finished runner-up in the other one so far.

“It was a special day, we had to be ready for crosswinds but there wasn’t so much in the end. They appeared, then went, over and over. At one point it split and I was in the second group so I had to jump across to the front group. The split came in an unexpected place, so we missed a few guys and even I was a bit too far behind. Luckily Toms was up there, helping me through the day,”

It was a crosswind swept opener for the Etoile de Bess`èges, but the heavyweight sprinter found in it conditions that suited him very well, and was part of the group that eventually battled for the stage win.

Having entered the final climb to Bellegarde near the trio of TotalEnergie riders, he was the strongest on the uphill and managed to survive to the line. “The final was a super hard one with a steep climb in the end, but I also knew that I can do quite well on a finish like this. With Toms in the group it was quite good, I didn’t have to do so much and we were saving as much energy as possible which worked well for me. Direct Energie opened from the bottom of the climb and it was ‘follow, follow follow’. With 500 meters to go I really had to go. To be honest, I thought it might have been a bit too early, but I had a good gap and it was enough to pass the finish line first. It was pretty nice to be in a shape where I can do this already at this point of the season. I can build even more from where I am now.

"In the final Toms took really good care of me to put me in a good position with 800 meters to go. From there it was down to me."

Sure enough the Dane took the win and after leaving Marseille on Sunday with a feeling of disapointment, he can now take confidence that his form is in the right place and work exclusively focused on the cobbled classics campaign.