Mads Pedersen will race Vlaanderen and Roubaix only if he feels '100% ready'
Mads Pedersen experienced a dramatic start to his season. The Dane broke his wrist and collarbone in a crash at the Tour of Valencia. It remains to be seen if he will recover in time for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, his major goals this spring. One thing is certain: he will only start these Monuments if he is '100% ready.'
"I don't believe he will start if he's not 100% ready," said Kim Andersen, directeur sportif at Lidl-Trek, in an interview with the Danish feltet.dk. "If he isn’t ready, he can’t start. As a team, all we can do is support him to the max. We know he’s strong enough and will do everything to be ready. It’s actually the opposite: sometimes we have to hold him back a little."
Pedersen himself certainly isn’t sitting idle, Andersen knows. "It’s not in his nature to sit and cry. It doesn’t help to dwell on misery. We just have to do everything possible to get him ready as quickly as possible, then we’ll see when that will be and which targets are achievable. If needed, we’ll simply set new goals."
Indoor Trainer
In the meantime, we’ve seen Pedersen—albeit with some improvisation—back on the indoor trainer. However, Andersen stresses not to read too much into that. "It’s just to keep the blood flowing. It’s not a training session. His legs and hips are not injured, so of course he can use a stationary bike, but it’s not for training. It’s to stimulate circulation, which aids the healing process."
After the Tour of Valencia, Pedersen was actually scheduled to race the Tour de la Provence. Then in March, Paris-Nice was on his calendar, but Andersen doesn’t expect his rider to make it. He may be able to make his comeback at Milan-San Remo (March 21). The Tour of Flanders is held on April 5, Paris-Roubaix on April 12.
