"Perfection" was the only word Mads Pedersen needed to use to sum up his and Lidl-Trek's team masterclass on stage 1 of the Giro d'Italia, with the Dane winning the Albanian opener and claiming the first pink leader's jersey to cap off one of the most complete performances a Grande Partenza has ever seen.
Having been labelled the heavy favourite ahead of the start in Durrës, Pedersen was relaxed at the start. He took time to greet former teammate and Giro d'Italia great Vincenzo Nibali in front of the team presentation stage, before casually checking his bike computer was dialled in with a spin of the cranks and rolling to the start line last.
