Mads Pedersen blasts past everyone in the Star of Bessèges, claiming his first win of the season before Milan Menten

Mads Pedersen won the second stage of the Star of Bessèges on Friday afternoon. The 28-year-old Dane was the fastest in the streets of Bessèges, ahead of the Belgian Milan Menten (Lotto-Dstny) and the Norwegian Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility).

Compared to the opening stage on Thursday afternoon, which was won by Axel Laurance, there were even more climbs on the menu! The challenging course inspired three riders in particular to make an early break: Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Frenchmen Léo Danès (CIC U Nantes Atlantique) and Paul Hennequin (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur). They weren't alone for long, as five more riders, including Belgians Jelle Vermoote (Bingoal WB) and Gilles de Wilde (Team Flanders-Baloise), Dutchman Alexander Konijn, and Frenchmen Jonathan Couanon of Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur and Enzo Boulet (CIC U Nantes Atlantique), quickly joined the effort to stay ahead.

However, their lead was short-lived. A new group of seven riders soon formed a breakaway, including Simon Carr (EF Education-EasyPost), Sander de Pestel (Decathlon AG2R), Alexis Gougeard (Cofidis), Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Thomas Gachignard (TotalEnergies), Théo Delacroix (St Michel-Mavic-Auber93), and Abrahamsen making a second effort. Together, they tackled the twin climbs of the Col des Brousses, measuring 2.4 km with an average gradient of 5.1%.

Lidl-Trek settles Pedersen's dirty business

Pedersen was determined to take revenge for his sprint defeat on Thursday, but Pedersen faced the setback of losing key teammate Daan Hoole to illness. The Dane then had to navigate through the challenging finale without any mishaps, facing the Col des Brousses for the third time. Rémy Rochas was not keen on a sprint with Pedersen and launched an attack on that climb with a rider from Uno-X Mobility on his wheel. However, his break didn't last long, and Lidl-Trek swiftly took control in the descent to set up their sprinter.

After a few more skirmishes, the large peloton stayed well together, and in the arrival town of Bessèges, we were set for a bunch sprint. However, Marco Brenner (Tudor Pro Cycling) had other plans, taking advantage of a clever move on a bridge to break away. Lidl-Trek had a hard time closing the gap on the former DSM-Firmenich rider, but fortunately for Pedersen, they received support from Uno-X.

In the final sprint, Pedersen proved unbeatable, out-sprinting everyone to the line. Menten and Tiller rounded out the podium, with Sandy Dujardin and Benoit Cosnefroy securing spots in the top five.

Stage 3 results in the Star of Bessèges 2024

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