Mads Pedersen in race against the clock for Milano–Sanremo: “He will only start if he’s 100%”

Pedersen lined up in January for the Volta Comunitat Valenciana, where he was set to make his season debut. After that, he was due to head to the Tour de la Provence and Paris-Nice as part of his build-up towards the spring Classics and, ultimately, Milano–Sanremo. In stage 1, however, the powerful all-rounder went down in a high-speed incident in the peloton.

Several riders collided at pace, with Pedersen among those caught up — as well as Tobias Foss. The former world champion (2019) suffered fractures to his wrist and collarbone and underwent surgery the following day. It was a bitter blow for Pedersen, who had previously spoken about being ambitious this spring and wanting to take on the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar.

Pedersen has at least been able to keep riding during his recovery, though Andersen stressed it is not “really training” yet — more a way to keep blood circulation going. That makes it unclear exactly how and when Pedersen will return to racing, but changes to his calendar have already become unavoidable.

According to Andersen, it is already clear that Pedersen will not be on the start line at the Tour de la Provence on Friday, while Paris-Nice is also very likely to be removed from his programme. “His participation in Paris-Nice, which would normally be his final stage race in preparation for Milano–Sanremo, doesn’t look good either,” Andersen admitted.

Even bigger targets like the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are far from certain at this point. “If he isn’t fit, he can’t race — it’s that simple. All we can do is support him as a team and trust that he’s strong enough and will do everything to get fit. We’ll probably have to hold him back rather than push him,” Andersen explained.

One thing, however, is non-negotiable for the Danish directeur sportif: “Pedersen won’t be on the start line if he’s not 100% fit.” The coming weeks will therefore determine when Lidl-Trek’s leader can return to competition — with the Poggio at Milano–Sanremo pencilled in as a potential first appearance, but still very much uncertain.