Mads Pedersen (born 18 December 1995) is a Danish professional racing cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam Lidl–Trek. Pedersen is the most winning Danish rider in history ranked by total number of professional victories, has won stages in all three Grand Tours—the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, and Vuelta a España, and is the only Danish rider ever to win the men's road race world title, claiming the 2019 UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire, England. Pedersen is also one of only six riders in history to have won the points classification in all three Grand Tours.
In 2013, Pedersen won the Paris–Roubaix Juniors and went on to claim the silver medal in the World Championships junior road race. Pedersen won Ghent–Wevelgem U23, the U23 Tour of Norway, and a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir prior to turning professional.
Early Trek–Segafredo years: 2017–2021
In August 2016, Trek–Segafredo announced that they had signed Pedersen through to 2018.
In his neo-pro season, Pedersen was named in the start list for the Giro d'Italia. His best result was twelfth on the last stage, in the individual time trial.
Pedersen won the Danish national road race title in June. He took overall victory in the Tour du Poitou Charentes after winning the time trial.
In September, Pedersen won stage three of Danmark Rundt. He won the general, youth, and points classification.
At Dwars door Vlaanderen, Pedersen finished fifth, in a group two seconds behind winner, Yves Lampaert.
Pedersen finished in second place in the Tour of Flanders following a break away. Pedersen attacked ahead of the Koppenberg with just over 50 km remaining, and was joined by Dylan van Baarle and Sebastian Langeveld. Eventual winner Niki Terpstra caught and passed Pedersen on the final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont and rode to victory, but Pedersen was strong enough to hold off world champion Peter Sagan and the chasing peloton to become the youngest podium finisher in 40 years.
Pedersen won the one-day race Fyen Rundt, saying that "this is [...] a team victory, the whole team was racing amazing today". Pedersen returned to the Danmark Rundt in defense of his title, but lost time on stage two to eventual winner, Wout van Aert. He won the individual time trial on stage four. He came ninth in the points classification. Towards the end of the season, Pedersen won the Tour de l'Eurométropole.
Pedersen signed a contract extension with Trek-Segafredo, until 2020.
Pedersen won Grand Prix d'Isbergues from a 12 km solo, in rainy conditions.
On 29 September, Pedersen won the UCI Road World Championships in a rain-soaked race, in and around Harrogate, in Yorkshire, England. He was the first Danish cyclist to win a men's world championship road race title. It was only his second win of the season.
At the start of the season, Pedersen extended his contract with Trek-Segafredo until 2022.
Pedersen won stage two of the Tour of Poland, from a sprint. He dedicated his victory to Fabio Jakobsen, who was involved in a serious crash the day before, saying "[I wish] him a fast recovery, a comeback to life, to cycling".
In August, he was named in the startlist for the postponed 2020 Tour de France. He came second on stage one to Alexander Kristoff, and wore the white jersey for best young rider for one day. Pedersen came fifth and sixth on sprint stages ten and eleven. He took another second place on the final stage, to Sam Bennett on the Champs-Élysées avenue.
Pedersen came second on the first stage of the 2020 BinckBank Tour. He won stage three, which was rerouted due to a surge of COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands. Pedersen won the overall points classification.
Pedersen won the 2020 Gent–Wevelgem, bridging to the leading group of riders which contained Alberto Bettiol, Matteo Trentin, and Florian Sénéchal, before sprinting clear.