"Our lead-out train crumbled" - Mads Pedersen left frustrated with 9th placed finish on first bunch sprint of 2023 Tour de France

The first bunch sprint finish of the 2023 Tour de France was not a happy hunting ground for Mads Pedersen. In his first chance at taking a stage win at the race this year, the Lidl-Trek sprinter was forced to settle for ninth position.

"It was abnormally hectic. Fifty kilometres from the finish we already started racing at full speed," the 27-year-old Danish sprinter revealed in his post-stage interview. “It was super fast all the time. You are then always kind of stuck in the position you have. It was so restless that our lead-out train crumbled at one point. Some of my teammates got boxed in on the left side of the road, so I had to manoeuvre headlong to the right. But then the boys suddenly got space again. That was unfortunately a mistake on my part. But it is what it is."

Jasper Philipsen was the eventual winner of the day, surviving a lengthy jury review after a protest from Jumbo-Visma. Tomorrow and stage 4 will be another predicted sprint finish and for Pedersen, it marks a chance at redemption.

“The guys worked hard all day to put me in an ideal sprint position. That's why I'm sorry that I didn't manage to reward that work," he concludes. "I am convinced that we will come back stronger. This is not why I came to the Tour."