Mads Pedersen thought his Danish Tour de France dream was about to come true when he sprinted to the finish in Nyborg.

The Dane, who had ridden just 250 meters from his home earlier in the day, was hoping to win a Tour de France stage in the three days of the Grande Palais in Denmark. He made the three stages his big goal, his goal and one that Danish cycling fans would cheer for.

The Danes packed the roadside during the 200 km stage and at the finish in Nyborg, drawing thousands of spectators. Pedersen wanted to reward them.

Only Fabio Jacobsen and Wout Van Aert ended his dream on stage 2.

"Of course I wanted to win, but it's not easy to win a group sprint here with a rider like Jacobsen," Pedersen told Cycling News, trying to overcome his disappointment.

"Still, I'm pretty happy with this result. I can be part of the championship contenders. So if everything goes my way, I can win the sprint."

"There is another race tomorrow [to Sonderboer], so the dream is still possible.

Pedersen was cheered on by the Danish crowd as he crossed the finish line. He is encouraged by the cheers of the Danish fans.

"It was crazy out there and the crowd was amazing," Pedersen said with heartfelt thanks.

"I really appreciate everyone who followed me from away and cheered me on. I got goosebumps every time I passed the big crowd."

Trek-Segafredo teammate Yasper Steiven led Pedersen onto the bridge with 500 meters to go, opening the road in front of him to drop him off. He had to sprint into a slight headwind, which favored the laggards from behind like Jacobsen.

"After the whole team did a perfect job, we started the sprint with 200 meters to go," Pedersen explained.

It was a chaotic final, so it was difficult to get it right. I just wasn't strong enough in the sprint.

"Fabio came up very fast at the end. I want to say congratulations to him.