Mads Pedersen (born 18 December 1995) is a Danish professional racing cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam . Pedersen is the most winning Danish rider in history ranked by total number of professional victories, has won stages in all three Grand Tours—the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España, and is the only Danish rider ever to win the men's road race world title, claiming the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, England. Pedersen is also one of only six riders in history to have won the points classification in all three Grand Tours.
Career
Amateur career: 2013–2016 In 2013, Pedersen won the Paris–Roubaix Juniors and went on to claim the silver medal in the World Championships junior road race. Pedersen won Ghent–Wevelgem U23, the U23 Tour of Norway, and a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir prior to turning professional.
Early Trek–Segafredo years: 2017–2021
In August 2016, announced that they had signed Pedersen through to 2018.
2017 In his neo-pro season, Pedersen was named in the start list for the Giro d'Italia. His best result was twelfth on the last stage, in the individual time trial.
Pedersen won the Danish national road race title in June. He took overall victory in the Tour du Poitou Charentes after winning the time trial.
In September, Pedersen won stage three of Danmark Rundt. He won the general, youth, and points classification.
2018 At Dwars door Vlaanderen, Pedersen finished fifth, in a group two seconds behind winner, Yves Lampaert.
Pedersen finished in second place in the Tour of Flanders following a break away. Pedersen attacked ahead of the Koppenberg with just over 50 km remaining, and was joined by Dylan van Baarle and Sebastian Langeveld. Eventual winner Niki Terpstra caught and passed Pedersen on the final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont and rode to victory, but Pedersen was strong enough to hold off world champion Peter Sagan and the chasing peloton to become the youngest podium finisher in 40 years.
Pedersen won the one-day race Fyen Rundt, saying that "this is [...] a team victory, the whole team was racing amazing today". Pedersen returned to the Danmark Rundt in defense of his title, but lost time on stage two to eventual winner, Wout van Aert. He won the individual time trial on stage four. He came ninth in the points classification. Towards the end of the season, Pedersen won the Tour de l'Eurométropole.
Pedersen signed a contract extension with Trek-Segafredo, until 2020.
2019 Pedersen won Grand Prix d'Isbergues from a 12 km solo, in rainy conditions.
On 29 September, Pedersen won the UCI Road World Championships in a rain-soaked race, in and around Harrogate, in Yorkshire, England. He was the first Danish cyclist to win a men's world championship road race title. It was only his second win of the season.
2020 At the start of the season, Pedersen extended his contract with Trek-Segafredo until 2022.
Pedersen won stage two of the Tour of Poland, from a sprint. He dedicated his victory to Fabio Jakobsen, who was involved in a serious crash the day before, saying "[I wish] him a fast recovery, a comeback to life, to cycling".
In August, he was named in the startlist for the postponed 2020 Tour de France. He came second on stage one to Alexander Kristoff, and wore the white jersey for best young rider for one day. Pedersen came fifth and sixth on sprint stages ten and eleven. He took another second place on the final stage, to Sam Bennett on the Champs-Élysées avenue.
Pedersen came second on the first stage of the 2020 BinckBank Tour. He won stage three, which was rerouted due to a surge of COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands. Pedersen won the overall points classification.
Pedersen won the 2020 Gent–Wevelgem, bridging to the leading group of riders which contained Alberto Bettiol, Matteo Trentin, and Florian Sénéchal, before sprinting clear.
2021 Pedersen came third on the first stage of Étoile de Bessèges, after a late attack from eventual winner Christophe Laporte and Nacer Bouhanni. Pedersen won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne from the bunch sprint.
At Paris-Nice, Pedersen finished third and second on sprint stages one and two respectively. He finished eighth in the overall points classification. Pedersen was part of the breakaway at the Bredene Koksijde Classic. He finished second to Tim Merlier in the sprint. At the Critérium du Dauphiné, Pedersen was involved in a crash with Santiago Buitrago, and per the team's concussion protocols, he abandoned the race.
Pedersen was selected for the Tour de France. His highest result was an eighth place on stage four, in a bunch sprint. He crashed four separate times.
At the Tour of Denmark, Pedersen finished in the top ten in all stages. His best result was a win on stage two. He finished second in the general classification and won the points classification. Pedersen won stage three of the Tour of Norway from a reduced bunch sprint. He finished second on stage four, and came sixth in the points classification.
Pedersen crashed out of the wet Paris-Roubaix, which was postponed due to COVID-19, after riding into the back of Luke Rowe, who had a front wheel puncture on the Trouée d'Arenberg sector.
Grand Tour victories: 2022–present 2022 Pedersen won the points classification in Circuit de la Sarthe and Étoile de Bessèges and had top 10 finishes in Milan–San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Gent–Wevelgem.
During the 2022 Tour de France he was active early in the race as the Grand Départ was held in Denmark, however he had no success. At the end of the second week he was involved in a seven-rider breakaway with teammate Quinn Simmons. Simmons drove a hard pace up the Coté de Saint-Romain-en-Gal and with just under 11 km to go Pedersen launched an attack. Only Fred Wright and Hugo Houle could go with him. At the finish line, Pedersen outsprinted both of them to claim the stage win.
He had a strong 2022 Vuelta a España, winning the points competition as well as three individual stages.
2023
Pedersen started his 2023 campaign with stage wins at the Étoile de Bessèges and Paris–Nice. He again took multiple top 5 and 10 finishes in the spring classics, but had no victories. In May, he won stage six of the Giro d'Italia in a sprint finish, after finishing on the podium on stages three and five. In July, he won stage eight of the Tour de France, finishing second overall to Jasper Philipsen in the points classification. In August, he narrowly missed out on a medal in the World Road Race Championships, losing the sprint for third to Tadej Pogačar. He took two more victories in the remainder of the season, winning stage five and the overall title of the Danmark Rundt, followed by the Hamburg Cyclassics.
2024 Pedersen started the season by taking a stage win and the overall of Étoile de Bessèges, followed by three stage wins and the overall title at the Tour de la Provence. In March, he took two second-place finishes on stage of Paris–Nice, followed by fourth at Milan–San Remo. He ended his drought of classics wins, sprinting to take Gent–Wevelgem. In early April, he finished third at Paris–Roubaix, behind Philipsen and van der Poel.
2025 Pedersen won stage two of Tour de la Provence, out-sprinting Matej Mohorič. He won the general classification and the points classification.
At Paris-Nice, Pedersen won stage six in the sprint, from a group of seventeen riders, the formed due to echelons. He won the points classification.
Pedersen had a strong spring classics season. He came seventh in Milan-San Remo. He finished second to Mathieu van der Poel in E3 Saxo Classic, over one minute behind him. Pedersen won Gent-Wevelgem for the third time, after a solo of 55 km, saying "it could have been a stupid move, but [..] it wasn't [...], in the end I'm just happy I could finish it off and win the race".
Pedersen finished fifth at Dwars door Vlaanderen. At the 109th edition of the Tour of Flanders, Pedersen outsprinted a four-man group of Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, and Jasper Stuyven to finish second. At Paris-Roubaix, Pedersen finished third, ahead of Wout van Aert and Florian Vermeersch in the sprint.
He had a successful 2025 Giro d'Italia, winning stages one, three, five, and thirteen. He wore the maglia rosa for five days. He also won the points competition. During the race, Pedersen announced that he had committed to racing for Lidl-Trek for the remainder of his career.
Pedersen continued his successes in winning the time trial at the Danish National Championships, and finishing second in the road race.
At the 2025 Danmark Rundt, Pedersen won stages one, four, and five. Stages one and five were won from sprints, and stage four came from a 30 km solo. He won the general and the points classification.
Pedersen was not selected for the 2025 Tour de France, to instead allow pure sprinter Jonathan Milan full support for stage victories. It was announced the Pedersen would compete at the Vuelta a España and return to the next edition of the Tour. At the Vuelta, Pedersen came in the top ten on stages three, four, five, eight, and twelve, before eventually winning stage fifteen. He won the sprint from the breakaway, where he had four teammates to help him. He also came second on stage nineteen, to Jasper Philipsen. The final stage was abandoned with 60 km to go, due to pro-Palestine protestors that had entered parts of the course, and the organisers cancelled the podium ceremony because of safety concerns. An alternative podium ceremony was organised in a car park. Pedersen won the points classification.
Pedersen came fifteenth in the time trial at the European Road Cycling Championships.
2026 In his first race of the season, the Volta Comunitat Valencia, Pedersen was involved in a high-speed crash and fractured his wrist and collarbone. The injury required surgery, and he was expected to miss several months.
Pedersen returned to racing at Milan-San Remo, only six weeks after surgery. He finished fourth overall. In preparation for the Tour of Flanders, he raced the E3 Saxo Classic and finished ninth. He also raced Dwars door Vlaanderen, and finished tenth.At the Tour of Flanders, when the race was split by Florian Vermeersch, Pedersen made it into a group of favourites. On the second ascent of the Oude Kwaremont, Tadej Pogačar attacked, with only Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel able to follow. Pedersen and Wout van Aert were dropped. He worked with van Aert, who eventually dropped him on the final ascent of the Kwaremont. Pedersen finished in fifth place.
Ahead of Paris-Roubaix, Pedersen said "I'm just happy to be here. [...] To be back racing, and still placing in the top five at the two Monuments [so far] this year, we can't complain too much." At the race, he suffered an early puncture, but managed to go clear with Pogačar and van Aert, after van der Poel suffered a mechanical and bike change on the Trouée d’Arenberg. He was distanced when Pogačar and van Aert started attacking. Pedersen finished seventh, only 15 seconds behind the winner, Wout van Aert.
Pedersen was selected for the 2026 Tour de France. He won stage four, in a sprint from the breakaway. His teammates, Quinn Simmons and Mathias Vacek, also finished in the top ten, second and tenth respectively. Pedersen mathematically secured the green jersey on stage twenty, saying that "one of my career goals is now accomplished". Pedersen joins an elite group of cyclists who have won the points classification at least once in each grand tour, such as Eddy Merckx, and Mark Cavendish.
Pedersen was selected for the Vuelta a España. He finished second on stage eight, in a reduced group that was formed by a crash in the last kilometre. Pedersen did not start stage eleven due to illness.