Former World Champion and all-rounder Mads Pedersen is still hoping to take part in the top cobbled Classics, Lidl-Trek sports director Kim Andersen has said, with the Danish star pushing hard to put his bad accident in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in early February behind him.
Pedersen fell heavily in Valencia on stage 1, breaking his wrist and collarbone and since then has gone from riding on the rollers to being back at a team training camp in Mallorca.
Pedersen’s non-participation in Milan-San Remo is all but a given, coming too soon in a recovery process now entering its sixth week. Lidl-Trek sources confirmed to Cyclingnews on Monday that “as things stand, he is not planned to do it”.
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Pedersen was a comparative latecomer to Milan-San Remo, racing it for the first time in 2022. But he has never been out of the top 10 since, with a fourth place his best result and seventh last year.
He is also one of the top players in the cobbled Classics, taking Gent-Wevelgem for a third time last year, as well as placing on the podium in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix
Lidl-Trek have had more than their fair share of crashes involving their top names in recent weeks. Pedersen’s accident then being followed by Juan Ayuso forced out of Paris-Nice when the race leader took a heavy fall at speed on stage 4. Meanwhile, Matthias Skjelmose is out of action as he reportedly battles to put a longstanding wrist injury to rights.
Regarding Mads Pedersen, “It is difficult to say when he will return. The only thing I can say is that he is working incredibly hard to return as soon as possible,” Andersen told Sporza.
“We are trying to make it to the Flemish races, that is in the back of his mind.”
“He can’t do more than what he is doing now. We hope to be able to race in Belgium.”
Pedersen has already had to miss out on Paris-Nice, one of the races where he regularly shines. Last year he clinched both a stage win and the green jersey after an impressive break in the last weekend around Nice.
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“He is doing what he can. He is working his finger to the bone. He is making a very good impression and is very motivated.”
Speaking in a team podcast, In the Middle of Lidl-Trek a few weeks back, when asked about the Classics, Pedersen himself was relatively confident, but preached caution.
“It’s going reasonably well, but we shouldn’t get too excited,” Pedersen said.
“It’s a shame, but we don’t know how the body will react. If I make it to the Classics, those will be my first races.
“It’s different to when you’ve been able to race beforehand, so there will be a big question mark about how my legs will be. But if we didn’t believe in it, I wouldn’t be killing myself on the exercise bike.”
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