Mads Pedersen was vastly disenchanted after seeing an opportunity of a Milan-San Remo victory forward of him on the by way of Roma for a break up second, just for Jasper Philipsen to grab it from him within the last metres of the high-speed 12-rider dash.
Lidl-Trek had executed their deliberate race technique, with Pedersen and Jasper Stuyven within the choose group excessive of the Poggio. The thousand totally different situations that Stuyven had talked about pre-race then got here all the way down to a dash after Mathieu van der Poel closed down the late assaults.
Pedersen was there and Stuyven led him down the By way of Roma, catching a last assault from Tom Pidcock, however because the Dane surged down the left of the street, Michael Matthews and Tadej Pogačar went on the opposite facet and edged forward. Pedersen dove throughout the street in direction of them however completed fourth, cruelly off the rostrum.
“I am proud of the way in which we rode as a group, however I am sorry that I did not do a greater dash and no less than end on the rostrum. So I am sorry, and I am disenchanted,” Pedersen stated, lengthy after the end, after preferring to let his disappointment fade on the Lidl-Trek group bus.
“It is a monument and I missed out on delivering the end result the group deserved right this moment,” he added.
“On a day like right this moment, with the way in which we rode and with the assistance of Jasper within the last, I ought to have no less than been on the rostrum, and that is why it is much more disappointing for myself that I did not do this.”
Stuyven tried to be extra upbeat about Lidl-Trek’s efficiency.
Mathieu van der Poel had named Lidl-Trek because the strongest group of the race, higher than UAE Crew Emirates, who lacked riders for an assault on the Cipressa and to guard Pogačar.
Jacopo Mosca did numerous the exhausting miles within the opening 2 hundred kilometres, making certain the 10-rider break by no means gained greater than two minutes. Jonathan Milan was distanced on the Cipressa however fought to get again on and did what he may, as did Toms Skujiņš, who completed within the chase group, and the opposite domestiques who labored for Pedersen and Stuyven.
“I believe we did what we needed to do, then in a dash, the legs converse,” Stuyven stated truthfully.
“We did the whole lot we needed to do. The group was excellent, as deliberate. We’re simply lacking the cherry on the cake.”
Pedersen was quietly assured about his possibilities earlier than Milan-San Remo. Final yr he ‘blew his engine’ when attempting to observe the Pogacar assaults on the Poggio. He suffered once more this yr however had one thing left as he crested the Poggio and fought again into rivalry on the descent and the flat street in San Remo.
“It was an anticipated finish to the race,” Stuyven advised.
“Everybody waited for Tadej to launch, so the totally different potential situations began when he did not get away and we began the final 500 metres of the Poggio and the descent.
“On the backside, we noticed that something may have occurred. From there it was about attempting to handle issues.”
Stuyven discovered one last comfort.
“You at all times wish to discover a optimistic and it was that each Mads and I are there for the approaching weeks,” he stated, seeking to the quickly approaching cobbled Classics with optimism.
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