"He's told me clearly" - Mads Pedersen's potential successor reveals private talks about Lidl-Trek's future beyond 2029
Cycling
Mads Pedersen has personally told Mathias Vacek that he is among the riders who could eventually succeed him as a leader at Lidl-Trek, with the former world champion considering the 2029 World Championships in Copenhagen as the final race of his career. Vacek has revealed details of their private conversations and hopes to inherit a leading role in the Classics when his experienced teammate retires.
"I've had several one-to-one conversations with Mads. He's a very honest person and tells you exactly what he thinks," the 24-year-old Czech told Spanish newspaper MARCA. "He's told me clearly that I'm one of the riders who will take over when he retires."
Pedersen publicly identified the 2029 World Championships as his preferred retirement point during this year's Tour de France. The Dane, who won the rainbow jersey in Yorkshire in 2019, has also spoken about wanting to start a family and spend more time away from professional cycling.
"It looks as though he'll finish his career around the World Championships in Copenhagen in 2029," Vacek said. "That will be the turning point when everything changes, and that's when I want to take on a leadership role like his."
Mads Pedersen and Mathias Vacek ride alongside each other at the 2025 Giro d'Italia
Learning from Pedersen before taking over
Vacek joined Lidl-Trek in 2023 and has become a regular part of Pedersen's Classics support group. Their partnership was particularly productive at the 2025 Giro d'Italia, where Pedersen won four stages and the points classification, while Vacek briefly wore the white jersey.
On stage five in Matera, Pedersen struggled on the final climb before fighting his way back onto Vacek's wheel and sprinting to victory. Afterwards, he credited his teammate's work in the closing kilometres.
Vacek, who extended his contract through 2029 last year, had already spoken publicly about the team's plans for him to eventually succeed Pedersen as a Classics leader. The Danish rider has won three editions of Gent-Wevelgem, the 2019 world title and stages in all three Grand Tours, although a first Monument victory remains an outstanding ambition.
"I want to keep progressing, try to be like him and achieve the same victories he has," Vacek explained. "I'm a slightly different type of rider because I'm better on the climbs, but I want to follow in his footsteps. Anything I can learn from him now will help me."
How Vacek's Classics campaign unravelled
The 2026 spring Classics brought little reward for Vacek, who finished 49th at the Tour of Flanders and 22nd at Paris-Roubaix. He has since admitted that he made mistakes during his preparation in Spain, where he spends much of the winter training around Motril.
"I started training quite early, and in Spain, with the good weather, you can get into shape in three or four weeks," he explained. "But there was still a month and a half to go before my big objectives, so I'd say I got a bit carried away with my training too early. By the time the Classics came around, when it really mattered, I was exhausted."
Following a break from racing and an altitude training camp, Vacek returned to competition at the Tour de Suisse, where he finished third overall behind Tadej Pogacar and Richard Carapaz.
"When I managed to follow Pogacar on a stage of the Tour de Suisse, I think that was even bigger than a victory for me, because there aren't many riders capable of following him," he recalled.
The Czech had previously shown his potential in one-day racing with second place at Paris-Tours in 2024, while his performances against some of the leading climbers at the Tour de Suisse demonstrated the range of terrain on which he can compete.
Read also
Three weeks working for Pedersen's green jersey
Vacek made his Tour de France debut in July, joining Lidl-Trek's efforts to secure the green jersey for Pedersen. The Dane won stage four in Foix, with his Czech teammate also finishing among the leading riders, before the points battle took them into the final week.
"This year was especially hard because of the fight for the green jersey. We were trying to pick up points every day at intermediate sprints or by getting into breakaways," Vacek told MARCA. "It was incredibly demanding working towards that green jersey."
Pedersen's victory in the classification was secured on stage 20, after the Dane joined the breakaway across the Alpine climbs to collect the remaining points he needed.
"He put an enormous amount of effort into it himself, too. Just look at stage 20, when he got into the breakaway over the big mountain passes," Vacek said. "For me, that was incredible, and I tried to help him as much as possible."
Vacek was making his first appearance at the Tour and had entered the race uncertain how he would respond to three weeks of competition. He also had to manage his own efforts around the demands of Pedersen's points campaign, which regularly required Lidl-Trek to place riders in breakaways and contest intermediate sprints.
"It was also my first Tour de France, so I didn't know how my body would respond over three weeks, because you always go through some kind of difficult patch," he explained. "The priority was the green jersey, and in the end, we achieved it."
Vacek followed his Tour debut with fifth overall at the Deutschland Tour before winning the ZLM Tour in September, taking the opening time trial and the following road stage on his way to overall victory. He also won both the Czech national road race and time trial championships earlier in the summer.
"I feel like I'm gradually getting closer to his level, so hopefully I'll get there soon if everything goes well," Vacek said.
His 2027 campaign will offer another opportunity to target the cobbled Classics, with Pedersen still pursuing the Monument victory he hopes to add to his palmares before his proposed Copenhagen farewell.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- the rot started in 2022 with Bernal's accident Signings- Just super helpers and non winners. Foss GC Leaders - Reliance on injured Bernal and retiring G Talents - On domestique duty dont learn how to win. Sprinters - No top Sprinter signed Tactics- Outdated Save the leader, trains. Just money badly spent even though there were opportunitiesabstractengineer11-11-2026
- Whole team is a mess. They don't have any really top tier "podium lock" GT riders, and they don't really have a solid classics block. Just a bunch of spare parts. I don't know why any rider would go for them either. Feels like old mate with the money is likely to pull out at any given moment, and that doesn't bode well for their ability to jack up their budget and say "let's buy half a dozen shit-hot talents to ride support/lead our team" - which is what they probably need to do to get competitive again.wrsty11-11-2026
- Pogi is a Goat. He has power numbers that are once in a century. Jonas is a once in a generation, He has power numbers 1 level lower than Pogi. Even if both are equal which they were before 2024, Pogi would have won on sprint bonuses. For Jonas to win he has to crack Pogi, which is impossible. Therefore Giro is a good option considering the TT in TDF. He cannot win but if something happens to Pogi , he should be still in a position to win the TDF, Giro or no Giro, because the others are a level below him.abstractengineer11-11-2026
- for what?frieders311-11-2026
- Blah blah blah!frieders311-11-2026
- Where Merckx just rode every single race he could and won all the time, Hinault won less often (percentage wise) because he was more judicious in what he raced. His palmares are nuts. He had amazing rivals, one to start his career and another to end it in the grand tours. His classics were solid. What sets him apart from Merckx and Pogačar are that he basically dabbled in the classics while the other two love(d) them. I used to compare Pogačar to Hinault for his grand tour record and occasional classics win, until I realized that the comparison was wrong. Pogačar loves the classics - ah, the memory of his reaction to finishing fourth in a 2 person sprint in Flanders in ‘22: utter domination in any one day race since then, even when he doesn’t win. Hinault lived for the grand tours and I don’t think anyone else will ever reach his record. 10 wins in 13 attempts? Good lord. An amazing rider. Wish there was more footage to watch.RidesHills11-11-2026
- I had no idea about that either.
santiagobenites10-11-2026 - great analysis thanks! appreciate you posting this. I didn't realize CX had a different standard for deviation. this is even more egregious it seems.mij10-11-2026
- As he isn't currently with Red Bull, I guess if he want to race for one more year he needs to find a team. He's 37 so this will be his last year I would guess, unless he wants to race for almost nothing like Froome did.awp10-11-2026
- I think some are making much ado about nothing. Even though Jonas is getting older, before his crash in the Tour, he looked like a solid 2nd all the way home. No one can really climb with Tadej until this year, Eric Mas showed himself which I think was a one off year for him and Paul Seixas has been able to be pretty close to him. Whatever stage race Jonas enters as long as Tadej is not there he is a favorite to win.awp10-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment