Is this Pedersen’s best Paris-Roubaix chance yet? ‘On pure power, he stands apart’

Pedersen lines up on Friday at the E3 Saxo Classic, where he is seen as one of the main challengers to top favourite Mathieu van der Poel. After that, the Dane is also scheduled to race In Flanders Fields, Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. So his cobbled campaign is still set to be a busy one.

At In Flanders Fields, Pedersen could even chase a hat-trick. The race, formerly known as Gent-Wevelgem, was already won by the Lidl-Trek leader in 2024 and 2025, while he had also claimed victory there in 2020. Yet Pedersen has still never won a Monument, and that remains one of the biggest missing prizes on his palmarès. According to Holm, this may be the year that changes.

“In my opinion, he is more than ever the favourite to win a major Classic now,” said the Danish former rider, who drew plenty of encouragement from his compatriot’s display in Milan-Sanremo. “Mads was still able to position himself before the Cipressa and the Poggio, even though he had barely ridden his bike for half a year.”

Holm believes Pedersen has returned strongly from injury. “It looks as if he has come back with renewed energy. I’m not saying it is definitely going to happen, but I think this year he can beat his rivals in Paris-Roubaix,” he said optimistically. The Danish analyst sees the French cobbled Monument as a course perfectly suited to his countryman.

“The French Monument is the perfect match. Pogačar and Van der Poel have an extra acceleration on the climbs, but the flat roads of northern France are Mads Pedersen’s terrain,” Holm analysed. “On pure power, Mads is in a class of his own on flat terrain. Last year, Pedersen was already right there on the French cobbles, but he ran into bad luck at a very unfortunate moment.”

“That can happen to anyone. It could just as easily go wrong for Van der Poel in that race this year. There will always be bad luck in Roubaix,” Holm added, showing plenty of confidence in the 2019 world champion. Before looking ahead to the Hell of the North, Pedersen will first need to confirm his form in Friday’s E3 by taking the fight to his Dutch rival.