Mads Pedersen takes an unusual build-up to the Tour de France: 'We have no guarantees'

Mads Pedersen had the Baloise Belgium Tour in his original plans, but ultimately decided to drop the Tour de France warm-up race. That's notable, because if there's one rider who swears by preparation races, it's usually this man from Lidl-Trek. Sports director Kim Andersen gave IDL Pro Cycling an explanation.

This year for Pedersen has largely been defined by that heavy crash at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. The Dane broke his left wrist and right collarbone in Spain on 4 February, but returned barely six and a half weeks later at Milan-Sanremo.

He never quite reached his absolute physical peak, but he still rode top-ten finishes in every spring race he started: Milan-Sanremo, the E3 Saxo Classic, Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. Afterwards, he took a well-earned break — the recovery process had cost him a great deal.

The original plan was for Pedersen to work his way towards the Tour via the Boucles de la Mayenne and the Baloise Belgium Tour, but the latter was crossed off the list. "We've planned it this way because Mads did another heavy training block after the Boucles de la Mayenne," Andersen explained.

But that wasn't the only reason. "A race like the Baloise Belgium Tour also carries its risks. The stages are short and the peloton is made up of 160 riders. It's a really lovely race, but it remains a Belgian race — with cobblestones. Every race you start carries risk, but Mads obviously hasn't had a perfect year with his wrist. That's also something we've taken into account."

Andersen quickly saw that reasoning vindicated during stage two. National champion Søren Kragh Andersen — a regular teammate of Pedersen and also on the Tour pre-selection — crashed hard in a corner in Knokke-Heist and was forced to abandon. "Søren has some road rash and a cut above his eye, but has shown no signs of concussion so far. He will continue to be closely monitored," Lidl-Trek confirmed.

Pedersen is now completing his training block and will then race the Danish national championships. A somewhat unorthodox approach for a rider who normally always races beforehand in the build-up to his major goals. "We know that, and we hope he also responds well to this approach. But we have no guarantees," says the experienced sports director Andersen.

In the team time trial in Barcelona, Pedersen immediately has an important role to play. He will share team leadership at Lidl-Trek with Juan Ayuso and Mattias Skjelmose. The sprinter-cum-classics rider is targeting the points classification as a major goal — a competition he has already won at the Giro and the Vuelta. "The green jersey is obviously a big goal," Andersen confirmed.