Ex-pros warn Mads Pedersen shouldn't try and force himself to altitude camp: "It's a bit late if you've been a professional for so long and never tried it"

Mads Pedersen has some homework to do, according to Brian Holm and Bjarne Riis. A few weeks ago, it emerged that Mads might try going to an altitude training camp. Something the Lidl-Trek rider himself denies in the podcast Forhjulslir.

While altitude camps have become core of most riders' preparations, the Danish classics specialist seems able to prepare just well for the season in "normal" heights. His trainer, Mattias Reck, has not pressured Pedersen to change habits either, as he notes that "riders react very differently to altitude training camps."

But Brian Holm wonders that the former world champion has not yet figured out whether the oxygen-poor air is to his advantage. He shares his opinion on this in the podcast Café Eddy.

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"I think it's strange that you turn 30 and don't know if it still helps. I think that's a bit strange. The controversy is about finding out if it helps him. It's been 30 years - don't you know yet? It's a bit late, I think, when you've been a professional for so many years and you've never tried it.”

Former Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis continues on Holm's train of thought. The former manager of Team Saxo Bank has experience with altitude camps from both worlds - as team leader as well as rider.

"Many years ago, we did a DNA test on our riders. In the DNA test, you could see how they should train. Whether they were available for altitude training or not. It's purely physiological - something else, the purely mental part of it is something else. That's something completely different. But the physiological - whether you can adapt. We're obviously not the same there."

Mads Pedersen should normally open the 2025 at the traditional French 2.1 stage race the Etoile de Besseges.

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