Rasmussen: After Giro stage win, is Mads Pedersen Denmark's greatest cyclist? "Vingegaard must tighten his shoes"
CyclingWednesday, 14 May 2025 at 14:00
With his Maglia Rosa regaining victory on stage 3 of the 2025 Giro d'Italia, Mads Pedersen now stands at 52 professional wins in his illustrious career - more than any other Danish rider in the history of the sport. But does being the most winningest Dane of all-time make the Lidl-Trek leader his nation's greatest ever cyclist?
This question was given some analysis by another icon in the history of Danish cycling - Michael Rasmussen, on Viaplay, following Pedersen's sprint win on stage 3 of the 2025 Giro d'Italia. “There’s no doubt that Mads ranks very high on that list,” notes 'The Chicken', although understandably, two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard also deserves a mention when it comes to debating the greatest Danish cyclists of all time.
"Should his (Mads Pedersen ed.) many, many victories really be weighed against two overall Tour de France wins and two additional podium finishes?" questions Rasmussen. "Let’s not forget that. To stand on the podium four times at the Tour de France — that's seriously impressive.”
In comparing merely the number of wins for Pedersen and Vingegaard, the difference is stark. Whilst Pedersen has the aforementioned tally of 52 after his latest success, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader has 38 pro wins on his own palmares. As touched upon already though, not every win is worth the same and two Tour de France titles for Vingegaard weigh heavily.
“It’s not an easy comparison,” Rasmussen concludes, perhaps revealing he falls on the side of Pedersen in his closing remarks. “But there's no doubt: if Mads keeps going at the pace he's going now, Jonas is going to need to tighten his cycling shoes if he wants to go down as the greatest.”
What do you think? Use the poll below to vote for who you think is the greatest Danish cyclist of all time!
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- Senna? Fortunately, the vast majority of cyclists and racers are all alive and well, even the most adventurous. There's no need to come out and defend Jonas (and thus indirectly diminish the others) because no one attacks him. I'm simply describing his behavior and describing how those who are afraid of racing usually finish the career. That's all.
maria2024202425-05-2025 - If he is going to the Tour, then he should abandon, get some rest, do some altitude training and maybe race the Dauphine before the Tour. Racing is always the best training but the last week of this Giro is going to be hell, no need to take your body down a peg or two when you need some rest already.awp25-05-2025
- Isaac del Toro is looking more and more like a potential Giro champion as this race goes on. You can see his confidence growing day by day, and he looked very strong and alert during today's stage, which I'm sure that Juan Ayuso is not enjoying it at all.
santiagobenites25-05-2025 - Hahaha, it's okay for fans to expect, but the athlete doesn't need to comply with expectation. It's good that Vingo stands his ground. Otherwise, he'll be crushed under expectation like Wout did earlier in the spring. I kind of enjoy current generation of cyclists because they know what is important outside of cycling. That keep them grounded, unlike the previous generation which wasn't too unfriendly with each other off the bike.
KerisVroom25-05-2025 - Yeah, people, full of expectations, but what are THEY providing? And do THEY live up to others’? Seems part of modern cowardice, if you can’t take out your frustrations in your own life on those you consider responsible, start hitting on someone completely innocent.Mistermaumau25-05-2025
- Neither is his centre of gravity, seems he often overestimates how far he can lean forward.Mistermaumau25-05-2025
- I think it is because outliers like Tadej and Remco buck the trend. They can ride one day race and GC well and people start to compare and expect the same thing of him, which is understandable.KerisVroom25-05-2025
- Matthew - ITS NOT A LAMBORGHINI 😁
leedorney25-05-2025 - Amongst several other dubious actions. Still, great for all those passive retirement « investors » in arms manufacturers who can’t (mainly because they don’t want to) see the links. This is my main reason for not cheering on someone like Tadej, who just line the Ronaldos and Benzemas of this world are all to happy to have their (sleeping) conscience bought out.Mistermaumau25-05-2025
- Some people are just mature and stubborn enough to stay within their personal limits despite outside pressure, when you don’t, you end up like Senna, is that what spectators want to provoke with their « demands » on athletes?Mistermaumau25-05-2025
Greatest ever? Based on CyclingRanking.com, Rolf Sorensen is #1, Jakob Fuglsang is #2, Jonas Vingegaard is #3, and Mads Pedersen is a very close #4. If you'd rather rely on personal opinion, or favorites, or what not, it's anybody's guess.
The ranking points between Jakob Fuglsang and Jonas Vingegaard is huge, BTW.. about 6700 ranking points. Mads trails Jonas by 14 points.
True, but, Mads has a few more years of collection and his season’s tally will start levelling off whereas Jonas’ should be just starting so even if Mads overtakes him, it’s probably briefly. That now all being clear, obviously the greatest is Tony Rominger, at least that’s their most popular male cyclist, which is another way of saying he must have been great :-) Hey, sorry but if someone’s going to ask rabbit-hole questions, you can only expect rabbit-hole answers.
Like I said, if you want personal opinion, they're a dime a dozen. It is up to the respondent to make sense of what's being asked, IMO. Oh btw, Romingen is great but he's not a Dane.. he's Swiss.
Born a Dane
Jonas is a great rider but only rides stage races so i would have to say he & Mads are about equal now. Stage racing in general is overvalued i think... (vs the power required to win one day races)
Yeah, TdF is completely overrated, only amateurs and has-beens participate. And little ole skimpy Jonas has only won it as often as Switzerland or The Netherlands or Germany and Australia combined. Prestigewise there is NO comparison until he wins either the WC again or something big coz sorry G-W is basically a 2nd rate race at their level and he’s not won much else except a decent collection of stages, which Jonas and plenty of sprinters win too. Until now, MP is about pulling level with Asgreen who also won stages and classics, was a WC and HE got himself a monument and almost as many almosts as Mads but in a career only half as long.
According to the disgraced GT champion himself, Lance Armstrong, the Grand Tours are where you'll see the strongest athletes in all of sports. These riders do a 250 km race today, and another 200km race tomorrow, followed by a 30km time trial, then capped off with a mountain stage with 4000m elevation gain.. and that is only for the first week. I guess that's why doping became part of the sport, because of the extreme pressure these riders go through in a 21-day race. Talk about endurance, that's what it's all about. Sagan may be fast, and Cavendish, and Pedersen and Wout and MVDP,, but they can hardly finish a grand tour.
Jonas only does stage ra
First goats and now great danes, all we need now is a showdown at the tour of turkey, that could maybe slide into grease. Sorry, always happens when I get tired.
Nice try dude..
Its difficult to compare the two, since both are fundamentally different as cyclists. Jonas is essentially a stage racer, whereas Mads excels in classics as well as in sprint stages at GTs. At this point of time, Jonas with his two Tour wins, beating Pogacar no less, has the better credentials. If Mads wins a few monuments and some Points Jerseys, the comparison may be closer.
Let's not forget that Pedersen won the Worlds in Yorkshire in true North of England conditions which are hell basically, when it's bad..
Vingo is the best Dane cyclist. He's the only one who beat Pogi two time in Tour de France.
Its a pretty easy comparison, Jonas is the best. Look at his opponent the Best rider of his generation and 3rd best of all time Pogi who he has beaten twice in TDF. Pedersen cant even beat MVDP in monuments