Mads Pedersen’s incredible winning streak continues at Tour de la Provence

Mads Pedersen is no stranger to early season success but even by his standards the 2024 campaign has been something else, with five victories in just seven days of racing.

The former world champion kick-started his year with a stage win and the overall at the Etoile de Bessèges - Tour du Gard and arrived at the Tour de la Provence this week as one of the riders to watch.

After winning the opening time trial in impressive fashion the 28-year-old picked up two straight sprint victories and the current race lead. Sunday’s final stage is also likely to end in another bunch sprint, giving Pedersen another chance to add to his tally and seal a second GC win of 2024. It’s only February but the Lidl-Trek rider is already looking in fine fettle before the main objectives of his season come into view at the Spring Classics.

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“[My teammates] are incredible. Every day they have to dig deeper and deeper as the race gets harder. So far they have been super impressive and I’m so proud of them. I’m happy to repay them with victories after all their hard work. Huge compliments to all of my teammates,” Pedersen said after he beat Axel Zingle (Cofidis) to the line on stage 2 in Provence.

“Sometimes you have to take the chance and today I had to take the chance here. The boys were working so hard but it started to be tight to catch the leader because he was going – excuse my words – f***ing strong in the front so it was not easy to deal with him at all, so I hoped a smaller group would be better. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t, but today it did. 

“I am not racing to make other guys suffer, I am racing to win so it's enjoyable to raise the arms when you are passing the finish line. Tomorrow is a sprint stage and we have good sprinters here as well so we will see. I think we are pretty happy with the race so far and anything could happen tomorrow and we will leave this lovely region with a smile on our faces.”

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Pedersen isn’t the only rider on Lidl-Trek to hit the ground running in 2024. The team already have eight wins under their belts with victories also coming for Ryan Gibbons (twice) and Jonathan Milan - both new signings to the team.

Team boss Luca Guercilena took to social media on Saturday night to congratulate his Danish star rider. Although the opposition will be tougher in the cobbled Classics, Lidl-Trek has certainly had its best start to a season in years.

“Normally he has a one-day beast mode. Now thanks to the team he is having a week of beast mode. The incredible Mads!” said Guercilena.

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