It was Pedersen's first win since stage 15 of the Vuelta a España back in 2025. Thanks to the win, Pedersen also moved into the lead of the points competition by 48 points, which has been one of his big goals for the 2026 Tour.
Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin launched a late attack and dive-bombed the final corner in an attempt to snatch victory, but was unable to overhaul Pedersen in the run to the line.
Indeed, Mads Pedersen had no trouble outpacing a very strong breakaway that took several minutes on the peloton in Foix as Norwegian rider Torstein Træen (Uno-X Mobility) moved into the yellow jersey.
He is the third Norwegian to lead the Tour de France overall standings. The first was Thor Hushovd, now the general manager of Uno-X Mobility, who had never led GC in a Grand Tour.
Pedersen's untouchable sprint was the icing on the cake for Lidl-Trek, who, with three riders present, controlled the breakaway and were also rewarded for their efforts as Quinn Simmons stole second place on the line as Raul Garcia Pierna (Movistar) took third. The winning sprint looked easy for Pedersen, but it was anything but easy on a day where temperatures headed towards 40°C.
34 riders broke away early in the stage, and the group then gradually turned into 10 in the final 30 km's after a series of attacks and splits. With three riders present in the breakaway group, Lidl-Trek completely dominated the agenda in the final run-in to Foix, as they maintained a pace that made it impossible for potential challengers to claim the stage win.
"I would say this was a masterpiece in teamwork," Pedersen said in the winner's interview. "Maybe not climbing, I was suffering a lot on the last climb, but with Quinn and Vacek there, it was a great day. They did incredibly on the climbs to pace it well for me, and make sure we didn't lose too much time over the top. They were machines from there to the finish line. What a team effort and what a team wins today."
The Grand Tour stage race continues tomorrow with a 158.3 km flat route running from Lannemezan to Pau, which marks the race's first true sprint opportunity of the tour and features around 1,600 meters of elevation gain.
