After these words from a trusted teammate, count on Pedersen from E3 onwards

Pedersen’s 2026 season started with a major setback. On his very first race day of the year, in the opening stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, the Dane crashed heavily. A DNF was the inevitable result and, with it happening in early February, his whole spring immediately came under pressure. After all, the cobbled Classics are where Pedersen’s biggest ambitions lie.

The verdict after his crash was severe: Pedersen had broken his wrist and collarbone. Surgery was needed, and the big question was how long recovery would take. “Not the best start to the year, but I’ll be back,” Pedersen said at the time. A few days later he was already back on the rollers, albeit with his wrist still wrapped. “Remember: enjoy the small steps you are able to take,” he said then.

At first, Milan-San Remo also appeared to come too soon, but against expectations Pedersen recovered in time after all. The Dane immediately showed himself at the front and, with fourth place, proved that his disrupted build-up had done little to blunt his results so far. What does that mean for the rest of the spring?

Before the start of the Tour of Bruges on Wednesday, IDLProCycling.com spoke to Norsgaard. The Dane is one of Pedersen’s most trusted support riders, and the pair have spent countless hours together on the bike. One thing Norsgaard made immediately clear: “Personal ambitions? I have no f*cking ambitions for myself,” he laughed.

Because, as he put it: “I’m here to support Mads Pedersen in the coming races. This weekend, Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders. That will probably be the rest of my career: supporting that guy. No ambitions for myself.” Norsgaard could hardly have been more direct.

That naturally led to the follow-up question: how is Pedersen actually doing? “He is probably in very good shape, I can tell you that. You already saw that in Sanremo. He came straight out of training and was immediately close to the podium. I’m excited about his form and the whole team is waiting to see him back in action on Friday,” Norsgaard said, sounding highly positive.

So the form appears to be there. The remaining question is how Pedersen’s left wrist will hold up, because bouncing over cobbles with a healing wrist is another matter entirely. How does Norsgaard see that? “That’s a question I don’t have an answer to. We train in Nice and around Monaco, and we don’t have any cobbles there,” the Dane laughed.

Pedersen himself later posted his own update on Instagram on Wednesday. “I haven’t posted much over the last six weeks, but here’s a short summary of what I’ve been doing. I’m surrounded by people with the same goal as me: to come back as quickly as possible and in the best shape possible. We started well last week in Italy, and now it’s time for the cobbles. And we’re going to fight as if the injuries don’t matter. See you on the road,” said the Lidl-Trek Dane.