How Mads Pedersen pushed through to keep Aussie Porte in TDU touching distance
Richie Porte had changed his clothes, spoken to his teammates and director and hugged his wife and son by the time Mads Pedersen rolled across the finish line in Victor Harbor.
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Richie Porte had changed his clothes, spoken to his teammates and director and hugged his wife and son by the time Mads Pedersen rolled across the finish line in Victor Harbor.
Pedersen – the current UCI road world champion no less – had just emptied the tank on Stage 5 in a bid to help Porte secure his second ochre jersey and finished the stage 12 minutes after him.
All week Pedersen has contested every sprint that he had to, looked after Porte and guided him through heavy traffic, and yesterday after going head-to-head with Daryl Impey in the intermediate sprints he was one of four riders burying themselves in a breakaway to try to thwart an even bigger time loss.
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The rainbow jersey was awarded the most aggressive jersey not because he was riding for himself but because he did it for Porte who will attempt to win the Old Willunga Hill stage for a staggering seventh straight time on Sunday.
Yesterday’s stage saw Impey move into the race lead by two seconds after he picked up bonus time on the road before the stage was won by Italian Giacomo Nizzolo.
“Tomorrow it’s all to play for, we expected Mitchelton were going to do that and Mads did a good job to take some seconds so it’s not a massive deficit,” Porte said.
“I think if we can win the stage we will win the race but we’re going to have to have guys up there (to help).”
At the pre-race press conference last weekend, Pedersen was asked about his personal ambitions for the Tour and whether he would chase a stage win.
“No,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“I am here to support Richie.”
It’s one thing to say it but another thing entirely to do it.
A beacon in the peloton with his rainbow jersey and matching bike, Pedersen has been the consummate teammate this week, knowing if he expects his teammates to support him later in the year then when it’s his turn to go, he must do the same.
“We are here to win the race and we still believe we can do it but if one or two guys in the team try to do his own shit then we can’t win anymore, that’s why we are here, to support Richie 100 per cent and I am here to do the same,” Pedersen said.
“It’s about give and take and if you can’t do that you are not getting any support.
“First (today) I had to do the sprints and I tried to beat Impey and I did it in the first one and in the second he was just too strong. Then we saw the gap for me to go in the break and if I could survive the climb I could help Richie out in the final.”
Trek-Segafredo road captain Koen de Kort said what Pedersen had shown this week spoke volumes about his character.
“I’ve known him to be like that for many years and some riders change when they have success or have a jersey – especially a world champion’s jersey,” De Kort said.
“I’m guessing there would be plenty of riders who feel too big or too important to work for the team the way that he is doing, but I have to say it’s incredible, he’s just 100 per cent in on the team goal and doesn’t care at all how that makes him look, he’s just here to help the team and is doing a great job.”
Impey has ruled out going for more bonus time on the road on Sunday, instead focusing his energy on the final climb up Old Willunga Hill but he says the team has two cards to play with Simon Yates – fourth overall at 13 seconds – capable of going with Porte at the end.
“I’ll go all in on the hill tomorrow,” Impey said.
“Two seconds is going to be really tight and close but we’ve given ourselves the best chance possible, the boys have ridden incredibly hard all week and done an amazing job and win, lose or draw at the end we know we’ve given it everything,” he said.
“For sure it (going for intermediate sprints every day) takes its toll but you can’t think about that, we’ve got to try to be in a position where we can win the race and if we don’t go for the bonus seconds there is no way we can put 30 seconds into Richie tomorrow.
“But there is one guy in this bike race who can follow Richie and it’s going to be Simon (Yates), so who knows we could win the stage and that would be the overall or I could hang on, so we’re in a nice position.”
reece.homfray@news.com.au
Originally published as How Mads Pedersen pushed through to keep Aussie Porte in TDU touching distance