The Lidl Trek Sprinter Mads Pedersen lived up to the expectations to win the first phase of Giro D’Italia, beating the main rival Wout Van April in line after a 160 -kilometer phase from Durres to Tirana, which had a defective collision final.

Dane’s teammates worked all day for their sprinter, making Surrel’s last climb before Mathias Vacek threw it with 300 meters to go, and Pet Did not make a mistake to defeat Belgium Van aert with half steering wheel.

After winning all the stages in all three Grand Tours, Pedersen attracts the Pink Leader – Maglia Rosa – for the first time, the first from Denmark, as well.

Vacek said Eurosport On the line: “We were already trying to make a difficult pace to get rid of sprinters. In the end, I had really good legs and could make a really good leadership for Mads, and was crazy.

“It’s a great achievement, and I’m so proud that he could get the pink shirt today.”

The third on stage was the Movistar Orluis aularmthe fourth was Francesco Busatto By Intermarke Wanty, while Tom Pidcock I Q36.5.

Giro of 2025 began in Albania with a hilly running from Durres to the Tirana capital, and it took only a few kilometers for a group of five to raise the road.

They were given only a maximum lead of about two minutes after Lidl Trek, Visma Lease-A-Bike and Alpecin Deceunick did most of the work to contain the gap at first.

A 13-kilometer-long climb greeted the knights in the middle of the scene, with Sylvain Moniquet doing the first summit, means that he received the first king of the mountains in this year’s race.

But the action really began after Pelotoni entered Tirana while Lidl Trek put a wild rhythm on both ascents of Surrel. Pedersen was never outside the first five seats in climbing, dictating to his friends to set the rhythm, and was the curve from the mountaineer Giulio ciccone This proved crucial.

Its two -kilometer withdrawal toward the adhesion’s tip saw some knights of the overall ranking to fall, including Derkthinning the main group in about 30 knights. All sprinters, including Cadet AND Olav kooijThey were sent by the back door, leaving only the peders and a tedious Aert van to fight it for victory.

In the descent of the outline in line, the disaster hit for the veteran Mikel ruralwhich seemed to fall rapidly into an uncontrolled pole. The Spaniard stretched from the course to an ambulance, seeing his Giro finished the first day.

But no one can stop Dane from grabbing his first pink jersey, and he greeted his team for their post -stage efforts.

Pedersen made tribute to his team after the scene, talking about him EurosportHe said: “The team was absolutely amazing, it is the clean class by my teammates and it is best to pay them and win the pink jersey.”

The second phase of the knight treats an individual test of 13.7 km of time around the streets of Tirana, where Van Aert has a great chance to get the overall race of the race from Pedersen.