Van der Poel will breathe a sigh of relief: Mads Pedersen 'didn’t get what he’d hoped for' at European Championships
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Follow us on GoogleRiders who might have thought the European Championships in Slovenia would favour the classics specialists were in for a surprise. Strong riders like Iván Roméo and championship favourite Toms Skujins finished in the top ten, but the battle for the European Championship jersey was really between the true climbers. Mads Pedersen served as the benchmark for absent classics specialists like Mathieu van der Poel, finishing a good 8 minutes behind.
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A week ago at the World Championships, after a gruelling race in Montréal, Pedersen was surprisingly in contention for a medal. Other heavier riders also performed well on a course that had initially been considered more suited to true climbers. For example, Michael Matthews and Van der Poel finished second and third in Canada, where many of the pure climbers were outclassed.
Pedersen wanted to recreate, and better, his World Championship ride
For that reason, Pedersen set off in high spirits from Montréal to Slovenia, where the elite men’s road race at the European Championships was held just one week after the World Championships.
“I had a pretty good week, during which I was able to sleep well, rest, and train a bit. I feel pretty good and have recovered from the World Championships,” Pedersen said ahead of his European Championships campaign.
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On a course featuring five ascents of the Možjanca—each just over 2 kilometres long (with an average gradient of 10 percent)—Pedersen knew what kind of day lay ahead of him.
“It’s a tough climb, and 2 kilometres is steep, so it’ll be right at the limit. But we said the same thing about the World Championships, and there I was in the running for a medal. Sometimes you have to believe in crazy stuff, and with this team, we believe in a medal.”
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Mads Pedersen
Pedersen and Denmark fall short at European Championship
The plan going in was clear: Pedersen would tackle every climb on the Možjanca as quickly as possible, constantly surrounded by his Danish teammates. That way, he could make up any lost ground on the descent and on the flat stretch to the finish.
On the first lap, Pedersen was even able to stay with the peloton, before he had to be brought back on the second and third laps.
When Remco Evenepoel and Giulio Ciccone broke away on the Možjanca in the penultimate lap, Pedersen fell behind, and we never saw him at the front again.
Mikkel Honoré did manage to finish 16th, but the team leader ultimately had to let the breakaway go and crossed the finish line a good 8 minutes behind winner Evenepoel.
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Pedersen can't rewrite World Championship scenario
It was a valiant effort, as national team coach Michael Mørkøv also noted in an interview with Feltet.
"We didn’t get what we’d hoped for. We were hoping to be in the mix. The climb was too tough for Mads—that’s the conclusion we have to draw now. Skujins finished fourth here, which is why I thought Mads could have been up there on a good day. I’d hoped he’d be able to stay in contention longer.”
Mikkel Bjerg and Peter Øxenberg brought Pedersen back after the second and third laps, but Mørkøv had already done enough.
“It was kind of the same scenario as at the World Championships, where he also struggled on the first climbs but managed to fight his way back. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out today.”
Pedersen had actually predicted that before the start: “The World Championship was 70 kilometers longer, which was an advantage for me.” And so the classics specialists who skipped the European Championship were ultimately proven right.
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Clarice WebsterEditor
Clarice has been following cycling her whole life, wroting about Thibaut Pinot (among others) for her university magazine while earning her masters in Journalism. She is passionate about furthering equality in sports coverage, and has taken huge inspiration from pillars of women’s cycling like Beryl Burton, Marianne Vos, and Laura Kenny.
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