Will Mads Pedersen reclaim 'his' classics? "One more kick and it might be impossible"

Will we see Mads Pedersen in this season’s Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix? After his unfortunate crash in the Tour of Valencia, it’s highly uncertain whether the Dane will recover in time for his major spring goals. The leader of Lidl-Trek currently has a rather bleak outlook.

"It already looks very difficult," says Pedersen—who stood on the podium last year in both Flanders and Roubaix—in the Lang Distance podcast. "It only takes one setback. If I get one more kick in the ass, it might be impossible. But I have to try, both for myself and for the people around me."

No Paris-Nice
The former world champion has not given up on the major spring classics yet, but no longer holds illusions about participating in Paris-Nice (March 8-15). The French stage race—usually an important stepping stone towards the classics for Pedersen—comes too early this year.

Kim Andersen, team director at Lidl-Trek, recently told the Danish feltet.dk that Pedersen will only start the upcoming monuments if he is '100% ready.' "If he’s not ready, he can’t start. As a team, we can do nothing more than support him fully. We know he’s strong enough and will do everything to be ready. It’s actually the other way around: sometimes we have to hold him back a little."

According to Andersen, Pedersen himself is not giving up. "It’s not in his nature to sit down and cry. It doesn’t help to dwell on misery. We just have to do our utmost to get him ready as soon as possible; after that, we’ll see when that is and determine which goals are achievable. If needed, we will simply set new objectives."