New world champion Mads Pedersen (open in new tab) will race in the rainbow jersey for the first time at the one-day Eurometropole Tour in Belgium on Saturday, October 5.

Pedersen will also compete in the Tre Valli Varesine in Italy on October 8, closing out the season the following day in Milano-Torino.

"I still can't believe what I have really done! It's very special to line up in the rainbow jersey for the first time and I'm happy to show this before the season is over," Pedersen said in a statement released by the Trek-Segafredo (open in new tab) team on Tuesday.

Pedersen won last year's Eurometropole Tour (formerly Circuit Franco-Belge) in a sprint finish in Tournai in the rain, beating Jempie Drucker and Oliver Naessen.

In similar conditions at the World Championships in Yorkshire on Sunday (open in new tab), Pedersen held off Matteo Trentin (Italy) and Stefan Küng (Switzerland) to win the World Championship men's elite road race. 23-year-old It was Pedersen's second win of 2019, following his victory at Grand Prix Isberg the previous weekend.

Pedersen won silver medals at Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships as a junior and finished second at the Tour de Flanders in 2018, declaring his intent to make his mark at the World Tour level. On Sunday evening, the 23-year-old admitted that his racing mode would change when he donned the rainbow jersey.

"I'm done playing the underdog," Pedersen said.

"From now on it will be impossible. It's a new situation for me. I have to race in a new way."