Denmark's Mads Pedersen won the opening stage of the Tour de France warm-up race, the 2024 Critérium du Dauphiné, on a foggy 172-kilometer run Sunday.

The 2019 world champion also takes the yellow jersey after his ninth win so far this season in a week he was named in Denmark's Olympic Games team.

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The Lidl Trek rider edged Sam Bennett and Hugo Page in a mass sprint, one of two flat stages on the eight-day race that is seen as a fine-tuning opportunity ahead of the Tour de France later this month.

"I love racing in France, it's all so well organized," said Pedersen, a 28-year-old rider looking ahead to the hilltop finish at Col de Loge on Monday. "It'll be a challenge defending the yellow jersey."

Pedersen explained his main task was to protect team leader Tao Geoghegan Hart, a climb specialist and dark horse for a podium spot, or at least some mountain stage wins, at the Tour de France.

Primoz Roglic, Remco Evenepoel or Juan Ayuso are more likely to win this Criterium, which ends with three blockbuster mountain stages in the Alps next weekend.

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