Mads Pedersen dominates opening stage in Belgium Tour

After winning six bonus seconds in the thrilling Golden Kilometer sprint, Pedersen still had enough strength to close a gap and jump around Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) in the final meters.

“Really tough race,” said Pedersen. “I think this was one of the warmest days of racing for me this year, and normally I am not that good in the heat. Tough day – a classic kind of stage, and then the heat on top of that made it pretty hard.

“Then the finale is really hard with the climb at two and a half k to go, and even the sprint is a tough one. Jasper (Philipsen) opened quite early and I thought, ‘Fuck, he made a gap already.’ But luckily for me, he popped a little bit in the last meters, so I could pass.”