Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) continued his successful early season with victory in the prologue time trial of the Tour de la Provence in Marseille.
The Dane powered through the 5km coastal route in a massive gear, spinning a 60-tooth chainring, with a blistering winning time of 5:19 at an average speed of 56.3km/h.
Stepping up from the Lidl-Trek development team, Jakob Söderqvist finished second just five seconds behind his teammate, with young Brit Sam Watson (Groupama-FDJ) in third.
Pedersen takes the first leader’s jersey ahead of his Swedish teammate but the hilly third stage and bad weather may prevent him from repeating his overall success from Etoile de Bessèges.
“Good start to Provence. I think we were pretty happy with me in first and Jakob [Söderqvist] second, so happy days,” said Pedersen after the stage.
“Tomorrow is another stage, it looks like it's going to be rain and pretty tough with a lot of climbing up and down. Of course, we try to aim for another win and we have a strong team here, that’s why we’re here.
Watson was leading the early stages of the out and back time trial along the Marseille coast until Pedersen powered across the line and set the benchmark too high for the remaining starters.
Only former French national time trial champion Bruno Armirail was likely to challenge the winning time of Pedersen, entering the final few hundred metres in the green, but he would drop to fourth at the line in a time of 5:30, ten seconds slower than the former road race world champion.
Other sprinters present put in solid performances on the 5km route including Sam Bennett during his first race for new team Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale. The Irishman rode a 5:31 putting him 12 seconds down on Pedersen.
Friday’s second stage should provide a chance for Pedersen to test his legs on the 157.2km route from Aix-en-Provence to Martigues, on the French coast north of Marseille, with two categorised climbs and an undulating parcours preceding the finish.
Results
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