"Flanders is the race that fits me worst" - Mads Pedersen realistic on chances of winning in Flanders, eyes Dwars door Vlaanderen

Mads Pedersen has won Gent - Wevelgem this Sunday but he is realistic on his chances to win Tour of Flanders. He believes it is much more likely that he can succeed in a race such as today's Dwars door Vlaanderen and hopes to lead Lidl-Trek into another important triumph.

"We are professional bike riders and celebrations have to be after the last classic. Celebrations are after Roubaix now we are focused on the next races we're doing," Pedersen shared with CyclingPro.net this morning before the start. He comes off the back of plenty racing unlike Wout van Aert, and explains the why: "I think I've said it a few times before I like racing, I like to get the speed from racing in the legs, I believe for me I can 'train' harder in the races than I do myself, so I still pin the numbers quite a lot for the classics."

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PREVIEW | Dwars door Vlaanderen 2024 - In the absence of van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen fight for victory in final classic before Flanders

The Dane is showing great form and after thriving at last year's classics, he entered the 2024 season in the same way. Consistent, with great endurance, a strong sprint and good ability for the short climbs; it is very hard not to see him in contention for a top result in both races. However this time around, Lidl-Trek face not a sole rival in Mathieu van der Poel, but a strong collective in Team Visma | Lease a Bike led by Wout van Aert.

"We try to do as we did in the other two races. I know we didn't win E3 but we were definitely up there with numbers and that's our strength right now," he says. "We can play with a lot of good guys in the finals and pre-finals and that's our goal."

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"It is so difficult to be Wout van Aert in Belgium" - Johan Bruyneel shocked with amount of criticism that classics specialist gets

On Flanders finally, he explains his current thinking: "I think Flanders is the race that fits me worst if you could say it like this. I know it's gonna be really really tough to do a result there, but with a team like this of course we're excited to do the race on Sunday, but first we focus on the task today."

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"Let us hope that we have had our share of bad luck" - Wout van Aert looks to bounce back from crash and win Dwars door Vlaanderen

"I’m getting close to doing something historical" - Mathieu van der Poel confirms he'll go for record equalling 7th cyclocross world title in 2025

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