The two latest UCI WorldTour events - la Bemer Cyclassics and the Renewi Tour (formerly Benelux Tour) - saw Mads Pedersen pursue an impressive winning streak while Tim Wellens took a historic third overall victory in the Belgian-Dutch stage race.
It’s said that no-one is a prophet in their own land… but Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) and Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates) contradict that saying with their victories in August, which saw them succeed on home roads.
Following his strong performances in the Tour de France (stage winner in Limoges) and the UCI Cycling World Championships (4th in the road race after attacking numerous times on the roads of Glasgow, Scotland), Pedersen won the PostNord Danmark Rundt-Tour of Denmark for the second time in his career. The very next day (20 August), he was in Hamburg, Germany, where he won the Bemer Cyclassics, the 28th UCI WorldTour event of 2023.
The following week (23-27 August), the Renewi Tour was contested across Belgian and Dutch roads which as always threw up plenty of action. Born in Sint-Truiden (Belgium), less than 50km away from the Netherlands, Wellens showed strength and consistency to rule the Renewi Tour for the third time in his career, almost 10 years after his first overall victories in the event, back in 2014 and 2015. As he became the first rider to win the race three times, Wellens also claimed his first successes in the UCI WorldTour since his two stage wins at La Vuelta Ciclista a España in 2020.
Renewi Tour: Wellens back at “his” race
“This week, we came here with the ambition to win the race,” Wellens stated with satisfaction after clinched success on the last stage in Bilzen (about halfway between the Belgian rider’s hometown and the Dutch border). I knew that both the time trial stage and the following day in Geraardsbergen would be critical so I really focused on those.”
Wellens didn’t win either of these key stages, but he was right up there, laying the groundwork for his overall triumph ahead of his compatriots Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Dstny), Yves Lampaert (Soudal Quick-Step) and Jasper Stuyven (Lidl-Trek), with Dutchman Mike Teunissen (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) rounding a top 5 comprised exclusively of Belgian and Dutch riders.
After another Beligan, Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) dominated the opening sprint in Ardooie, the contenders of the Renewi Tour faced a 13.6km time trial around the Dutch city of Sluis. Great Britain’s Joshua Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers) powered to victory, after his landmark bronze medal in the individual time trial at the UCI Cycling World Championships. Wellens was his closest rival, with a gap of 14’’.
The next day, as the race returned to Belgium with an iconic finish in Geraardsbergen, Teunissen took the stage win with an acceleration 1km from the line. Wellens was right behind him, finishing 2nd on the stage and claiming the overall lead he would keep all the way to Bilzen where the Slovenian Matej Mohorič, of Bahrain Victorious, was the winner of the day, after the 4th stage won by Sam Welsford (Team DSM-Firmenich) in Peer.
“It’s very important for me and for the team also,” Wellens rejoiced. “I’m looking forward to heading into my final goals of the season in good form.”
🎙️ Interview with final #RenewiTour GC winner @Tim_Wellens: "I am super happy with the overall victory for sure!" pic.twitter.com/8h1Is8ZqF4
— Renewi Tour (@RenewiTour) August 27, 2023
Bemer Cyclassics: Pedersen in impressive form
At 27 years old, Mads Pedersen has now claimed 34 professional victories, 16 in the last two years. The PostNord Danmark Rundt-Tour of Denmark was among his first conquests, back in 2017, before he was crowned road race UCI World Champion in Yorkshire in 2019. But until now the Dane had never won in Germany.
On 20 August, he filled that void in spectacular fashion, bridging the gap to the earlier attackers inside the last kilometre of the Bemer Cyclassics and eventually outsprinting them while holding off the peloton.
“I just went and hoped for the best like the time trial yesterday (sur le PostNord Danmark Rundt-Tour of Denmark - ed),” Pedersen said after his sensational success(es). “At the finish Danny van Poppel came really fast with much more speed, so five metres after the finish line he was already two bike lengths ahead of me. I was 99% sure I had won, so I celebrated like a win. On TV it looks good, right?”
Pedersen is proving himself one of the top riders of the year, moving to fourth place in the UCI World Ranking, behind Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
“It’s a long season now and until now it’s been hard and I can feel it”, the Dane acknowledges. “Luckily there’s still some gas in the tank.”