Mads Pedersen used 60-tooth big ring for 56kmph TT victory

Mads Pedersen’s latest victory may have been over just 5km, but the Danish rider went around the TT course at Tour de la Provence (2.1) in a blistering 56.25kmph after using a 60-tooth chainring.

The Lidl Trek rider only won by two seconds from his 20-year-old team mate Jakob Söderqvist, a Swede officially riding this year for the development team, Lidl-Trek Future Racing, after competing for a club last season.

However, Pedersen put more daylight into those further down the result after the pan flat TT in Marseille. And he has now set himself up for a general classification ride, and maybe a second overall victory after last week’s Etoile de Bessèges.

After getting on top of the 60-tooth SRAM chainring, Pedersen said he was happy with the victory but suggested new man Söderqvist may get his chance to shine over the next three days.

“You know, a win is a win so in the end if it’s 10 seconds or two seconds it doesn’t matter, but of course it’s nice to put in some decent time on the rest of the field already,” he said.

“But, 11 seconds to the opponents from the other teams is not so much. We still have some hard stages to go and the race just started. We’ll try to fight for another win tomorrow and take it day by day.

“The weather will also be a bit worse tomorrow and we will see how it goes. The young gun (Söderqvist) will also have to show himself the next few days so I think we will have an exciting week of racing.”

For his part, Söderqvist said he was delighted with his result but could feel the impact of going so deep.

“Right now my body is a bit empty so I don’t feel much at all, it’s a weird feeling but it’s also surreal. I think tonight it will settle a bit and I’m sure it’ll feel pretty good,” he said.

“It was a five-minute effort so it’s like an all-out test. There’s not much pacing to it, just trying not to blow up in the first minute and then just keep holding the power. Some corners could have been better but there’s not a lot to complain about. Today I just had a really good feeling.”