Road race world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) took his first win in the rainbow jersey on stage 2 of the Tour de Pollogne.

"First of all, I would like to dedicate this victory to Fabio Jacobsen after the terrible crash yesterday. According to Pedersen's team website, "He deserves to be fast, alive and back in the race."

Pedersen benefited from a textbook sprint train lead-out from his Trek-Segafredo teammates in the last kilometer of the 151.5km second stage between Opole and Zabrze, although he started his sprint from a bit of a distance, He held off Pakal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-Quickstep) to take his 13th career win and the overall lead with three days remaining.

"It was a pretty good team effort today," said Hansgrohe. 'I was impressed with the way the team ran today and we got something more out of the finale. So I'm really happy for the team and for myself to take this win and show this beautiful jersey."

Asked at the post-stage press conference if he and his colleagues were nervous before the group sprint after Jacobsen's crash the day before, Pedersen stated that he was not nervous, at least.

"If people start thinking that sprinting is dangerous or something like that, cycling will never be the same.

"What happened yesterday was really horrible and no one deserved it.

"Things like that should never have happened. Of course, yesterday affected the whole peloton, but we will keep racing, keep fighting and hope for the best for Fabio."

With the Tour de Pollogne set for Friday's third stage, from Wadowice to Bielsko-Biala, a 203.1 km route with seven "medium mountain" courses, Pedersen and his teammates know they will have their work cut out to hold onto the overall lead.

"Right now I want to fight to keep the leader's jersey until tomorrow. I will do my best. This is a really good way to restart the season and keep the fighting spirit going."

Pedersen won the rainbow jersey at the world championships in Yorkshire last September and raced in it several times at the end of last season, earlier this year, and last week at the Vuelta a Burgos due to the sport's closure due to the coronavirus, It was far less frequent than the occasions when world champions usually race in the rainbow jersey.

If selected, Pedersen will have the chance to wear the rainbow jersey at this year's Tour de France, which begins in Nice on August 29.