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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- Or maybe get in the bike more than one month prior to the race?!? Reminder - he’s won on this course before. So he has skills. But you can’t just jump inmij26-05-2025
- Time to Withdraw and reset for Le Tour.b3tlla25-05-2025
- UAE pulling Del Toro’s rivals back? Bad look. At this point I think he has proved he should be their number 1 card.mobk25-05-2025
- It's wild that a guy with such fantastic bike handling skills has crashed hard in three important MTB races. If that isn't a very clear sign that says 'just stick to the road', then I don't know what is.
santiagobenites25-05-2025 - If Del Toro doesn't fall off the bike or get sick he is going to win the Giro. He looked like he was freewheeling when everyone else was on the limit. His riding style reminds me if Tadej.awp25-05-2025
- Well this aged bad and fast lolHoopoeChai25-05-2025
- These roadies can't hack it on the Trail 😁 #getwellsoon 👍
leedorney25-05-2025 - Primoz! very bad luck... I hope the rest-day will be enough for him to recover from the many crashes (3 in race and 1 doing the TT reco).
maria2024202425-05-2025 - noooo, no more. No one expect one day race. Lately, he doesn't even race 1 week tours. It's a fact. I don't understand why his fans get so upset about the description of facts.maria2024202425-05-2025
- Let's hope that's not the case. If he retires early, then it may be an era of infighting within UAE.
KerisVroom25-05-2025
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.