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Naples [Italy], May 15 (ANI): Denmark's Mads Pedersen celebrated his new contract with Lidl-Trek with his third - and arguably most impressive - win of the Giro d'Italia. Pedersen battled back after being dropped on the tough climb into Matera before holding off Italy's Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) and Britain's Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) in a nail-biting sprint to the finish line.
If the pink jersey covering his back was not proof enough, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) reinforced his credentials as the most in-form rider at this Giro d'Italia with a stirring win in Matera to complete a scintillating hat-trick in Stage 5 of La Corsa Rosa.
Dropped on the spiky climb into the finish town, Pedersen battled back before joining forces with his team-mate Mathias Vacek ahead of the finale. The Dane then showed his rivals his heels - emerging from Vacek's wheel around the final bend before holding off a challenge from Italy's Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) and Britain's Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling).
The impressive Zambanini came from deep after a clash of shoulders with Britain's Max Poole (Picnic PostNL) but ultimately ran out of road as the continuation of Pedersen's hot streak was confirmed in a photo finish. Venezuela's Orluis Aular (Movistar) and Italy's Filippo Fiorelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizane) completed the top five in a thrilling conclusion to the 151km stage in southern Italy.
Ten bonus seconds over the line saw Pedersen extend his lead over Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) to 17 seconds in the general classification, on the same day his Lidl-Trek team announced the 29-year-old had signed a new contract to bind him to the team for the rest of his career.
"The last twenty kilometres were incredibly hard and I suffered a lot on the last climb. This was a really, really tough one, and I wasn't sure [I had done enough]," Pedersen said after his latest display of dominance. "I knew when I went over the top and was a bit behind that I was still in the group fighting for the win. But I had a really hard time there and I used a lot of energy to move back up onto Vacek's wheel. Luckily, I had enough for the last sprint."
The announcement of Pedersen's new contract ahead of the stage was a boost for Lidl-Trek following the overnight withdrawal of Soren Kragh Andersen, who broke his wrist in a crash in the closing moments of Tuesday's fourth stage.
An all-Italian breakaway formed shortly after the start of Stage 5 with Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar) bridging over to Goisue Epis (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Davide Bais (Polti VisitMalta) to form a trio that was kept on a tight leash by the pack.
With Epis already put to the sword by the pack, Milesi and Bais were soon pegged back after the initial rise into Matera before the UAE Emirates-XRG squad of Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates came to the fore on the downhill loop out of town. UAE's fast tempo had earlier caused numerous splits on the descent from the categorised climb, but the leading pack gradually reformed on the grind back into Matera. Once the gradient increased, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) was dropped inside the final 5km before Red Bull made their move on the ramp back into Matera.
After an initial acceleration by Roglic and the subsequent jostling for positions, Pedersen found himself dropping deeper into the pack. But the Dane avoided going into the red by drawing inspiration from the pink - fighting back in style once the road flattened out ahead of the finish. Once Pedersen had latched back onto the wheel of his team-mate Vacek, sporting the white jersey as the race's best young rider, a third win seemed there for the taking. The Lidl-Trek pair went head-to-head with the Picnic PostNL duo of Poole and Romain Bardet around the final corner before Pedersen launched his final kick.
A late surge from Zambanini and a valiant effort from Pidcock made the finish far from one-way traffic. But the man of the moment ultimately had too much for his rivals and the hat-trick was complete. "That was a really tough one," Pedersen stressed after increasing his win rate to 60% on this Giro. "I have to say again that it's really incredible to win in this jersey - it's insane. It's way more than I expected."
At 227km, Thursday's Stage 6 from Potenza to Napoli is the longest of the race and features more hills, but boasts a flat finish where Pedersen could strike again. And judging by the parting message of his post-stage interview, his rivals will have it all to do if they want to end Pedersen's prolonged period in pink.
Giro d'Italia 2025 - Stage 6 - Potenza - Naples, will be shown live on Eurosport from 07:00 pm IST onwards on Thursday. (ANI)