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!
Poll
Who is the greatest Danish cyclist of all time?
claps 4visitors 4
Just in
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
May 12, 11:09
0
Jury & Fines Giro d'Italia 2025 | Update stage 16
May 28, 00:27
0
Popular news
Jury & Fines Giro d'Italia 2025 | Update stage 16
May 28, 00:27
0
Latest comments
- If it wasn't for Pog UAE would be nothing - Ayuso is a kid who just shouts ME yet doesn't perform... Del Toro needs to have a serious conversation with Gianetti to get off his fence!
leedorney28-05-2025 - Headline says that del Toro is only seconds ahead of del Toro. Hope he’s able to hold himself off… or catch himself. I’m not sure who to root for.TeddyPangolin27-05-2025
- This year's unpredictability and drama definitely wins out entertainmentwise over the inevitability of Pogi last year. Stage 17 coming up and multiple riders still within reach of winning. Love it!mobk27-05-2025
- That was just a little light humour. I like Primoz, and I feel badly for him that he had to withdraw from the race.
santiagobenites27-05-2025 - do you kiss your children. with that. mouth?Laszlo27-05-2025
- Why?rokrok27-05-2025
- Descending skills could be key for the day. Hopefully no major crashesmobk27-05-2025
- Looks like UAE's strategy of playing it safe by keeping 2 leaders backfired within one stage. In hindsight, they should have unleashed Del Toro in the previous stages and let him gain time instead of pulling Ayuso and other GC contenders back.
KerisVroom27-05-2025 - Adam must be happy, for his brother ;-) Ayuso must have caught the same bacteria as Primoz when they crashed ;-), might retire before the end. This Giro is turning out far more interesting than any recent GT.Mistermaumau27-05-2025
- If I were a pro I don't think that I'd want to be riding in the peloton alongside Primoz Roglic.santiagobenites27-05-2025
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