The shortest pink jersey reign ever

It's not Mads Pedersen

Mads Pedersen got the jersey then lost the jersey then got the jersey back. He’s the first rider to win two road stages of the Giro and take the pink jersey each time since Danilo di Luca in 2007.

I have often wondered if riders feel short-changed if they ‘only’ get to wear a Grand Tour leader’s jersey in a time trial and not for a road stage. In a time trial, you don’t get to swan around, cock of the walk, billy big bollocks wandering through the bunch. You don’t get the mass start festival feel of a road stage. A time trial is a much more regimented, sanitised affair and I imagine if a rider is only going to get one day in a leader’s jersey, (comparatively) it’s a bit shit.

Mads Pedersen was faced with this reality by taking the jersey the day before a time trial and then losing the jersey in the time trial. After he got the jersey back by winning Stage Three, he confirmed my suspicions by saying in an interview with Friebos of The Cycling Podcast that he was really glad he got the jersey back particularly because it meant he got to wear it for a road stage.

By getting the pink jersey back, obviously Mads Pedersen has avoided the ignominy of having only held the jersey for a total of 13.7 kilometres.

It got me thinking who is the rider who has held the pink jersey for the least amount of kilometres ever. I uncovered a couple of things which I find interesting. And since you’re here, chances are you find them interesting too.

---

The shortest stint ever in yellow at the Tour de France is an analysis that has been done by a kindred stat nerd spirit Simon Crisp on his excellent website sicycle.com. He pulls together brilliant facts and figures, most of which I’ve never seen elsewhere. (As a lover of both stats and magazines I particularly loved this post on Pro Cycling mag covers).

Simon had worked out that the owner of this particular record at the Tour was Patrick Sercu, a rider much more associated with track racing. He was like the Eddy Merckx of track racing, winning a lot of track events alongside his six-day partner, the Eddy Merckx of road racing Eddy Merckx.

Sercu held the jersey for a 9km time trial in 1974, which lasted 11 minutes. I have never seen an answer to this same question for the Giro d’Italia. But I am here now to sate your appetite for these unanswerable questions.