"That's certainly not a goal" - Mads Pedersen rules out potential Tour de France/Giro d'Italia points classification double

Brilliantly sprinting to victory on stage 6 of the 2023 Giro d'Italia, Mads Pedersen is firmly in the battle for the Maglia Ciclamino, currently sitting third, 24 points behind leader Jonathan Milan. The Dane has however ruled out the prospect of going to the Tour de France to compete for the Green Jersey later in the year.

"That's certainly not a goal," the Trek - Segafredo sprint star told a rest day press conference. “I have never said that I will start the Tour de France in good shape. Our main goal at the moment is simply the Giro and winning the points classification. We'll see later how it goes in the Tour. I think it is possible to combine the two rounds at the top level. But it's not on my mind right now. After all, we still have two Giro weeks to go and our focus is on that."

Pedersen's victory on stage 6 saw the 27-year-old complete the 'Pederslam' and add a Giro d'Italia stage win to his prior successes at both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana. For Pedersen though, just one stage win is not enough to fully fulfil his vast ambitions.

“There are indeed some good opportunities coming up. I will of course also try to collect as many points as possible for the points jersey. We'll take a look at it day by day anyway," he explains. "Together with some other teams we have already tried to release the pure sprinters in hill stages. We succeeded. But it's not easy, so we really have to take it one day at a time. I don't want to completely burn out the whole team in one stage. So we have to watch out for that."