MATERA, Italy (AP) — Overall leader Mads Pedersen made it three wins out of five at this year’s Giro d’Italia as he won a bunch sprint at the end of the fifth stage on Wednesday.
Pedersen just managed to edge out Edoardo Zambanini in a finish that was so close the Lidl-Trek rider had to ask a teammate: “Did I win? Are you sure?”
Tom Pidcock was third at the end of the 151-kilometer (94-mile) route from Ceglie Messapica to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Matera, which is renowned for its “Sassi,” or ancient cave dwellings.
The 29-year-old Pedersen also won two of the three opening stages in Albania to take the leader’s pink jersey back to Italy.
“Now it’s really incredible and to win in this jersey as well, it’s insane and it’s way more than I ever dreamt about,” Pedersen said. “What a Giro we have and what a team I have around me.”
With the bonus seconds Pedersen picked up, the Danish cyclist extended his lead over pre-race favorite Primoz Roglic to 17 seconds, with Mathias Vacek another seven seconds back.
With a kilometer to go, Pedersen appeared too far back but he managed to get up to the front before a late corner and then got a great lead out from Vacek.
Pedersen then launched his final sprint early and just barely held off Zambanini, who almost managed to beat him after coming up along the barriers.
“I used a lot of energy to move back up on Vacek’s wheel,” Pedersen said. “I had to spend energy to come back to at least fight for the win. Then luckily I had enough for the last sprint. So that was a really tough one.”
Prior to this year’s race, Pedersen had only won one stage in the Giro, two years ago in Naples — where Thursday’s sixth stage also ends.
“Every day we try to win as as much as possible and we try again tomorrow,” he said.
The stage is the longest leg of the three-week race and has two categorized climbs on the 227-kilometer route from Potenza.
The Giro ends in Rome on June 1.
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