"Huge respect": Mads Pedersen impressed by the mental strength of his much younger teammate

Albert Withen Philipsen's professional debut was wildly anticipated in 2025 and the Dane did not fail to deliver. Although he didn't quite reach the heights of his classmate Paul Seixas who took bronze medal at elite European Championships last week, Philipsen's inclusion into WorldTour went smoothly. In fact, the 2023 junior world champion was the best younger rider already at the Tour Down Under, his first race of the year.

Afterwards, we saw the 19-year-old ride strongly in a breakaway of Strade Bianche and later win the under-23 version of Paris-Roubaix where he tagged along with Lidl-Trek's next season recruit Jakob Söderqvist. Philipsen was also 6th at the Eschborn-Frankfurt and 3rd overall at Tour de Hongrie, highlighting his all-round talent.

With so many talented Classics riders coming through for Lidl-Trek, Mads Pedersen can look forward to challenging Mathieu van der Poel or Tadej Pogacar in the Flemish Classics in seasons to come with an even more powerful team around himself. And, in the longer term, Pedersen will be more than happy to pass the baton of Denmark's Classics superstar to Philipsen as rumours of Pedersen's possible retirement after the 2028 Olympic Games have gone around the block and back.

But the question at hand is, can Philipsen threaten the throne of Tadej Pogacar before the Slovenian completes his collection of awards and gives way to younger generations? The signs are promising after the 19-year-old's autumn block of races with a second place at Tre Valli Varesine, only shy of the Slovenian phenomenon.

"We don't want to talk about Tadej (Pogacar) and all their results. Albert has done a great job," Mads Pedersen praises his young compatriot in the podcast Lang Distance.

In addition, Philipsen once again showcased his versatility with a 3rd place riding on the gravel vineyard roads of Paris-Tours.

If there was one downside of his year, it must've been missing out on the MTB World Championships in summer. The two-time junior world champion in XCO aimed to one-up his result from the under-23 European Championships where he came second behind Adrien Boichis.

"It's not even because he's taken the next step. He's taken two or three steps forward. Especially considering that the World Mountain Bike Championships went wrong for him with illness (crash, ed.) and so on. That he can turn it around at such a young age and is ready to ride so fast at the end of the year. Huge respect to Albert," concludes Pedersen.