"It was pretty stupid, and I hope he doesn’t do it again" - Mads Pedersen's key domestique relieved 55km solo paid off at Gent Wevelgem 2025
Cycling
Mads Pedersen put in a performance that even the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel would have been proud of on Sunday afternoon at Gent Wevelgem 2025. The Dane spent more than 55 kilometres solo en route to his record-equalling third career-win at the iconic Belgian classic.
One of the riders that played a key role in setting Pedersen up for his win, was the former world champion's Lidl-Trek domestique, Toms Skujins. Speaking post-race though, the 33-year-old Latvian didn't seem overly happy with his team leader's tactics of attacking so early. "It was pretty stupid, and I hope he doesn’t do it again," explained a relieved Skujins in conversation with Feltet.dk afterwards.
"I’ve raced the event two out of the three times he has won it. So that’s pretty cool. It’s always a tough race. We started riding hard after 80 kilometres. It was a fast and tough day. But Mads is a beast, so it might have been easy for him," Skujins continued his assessment, giving a little detail into the Lidl-Trek tactics once Pedersen had flown the nest. "We knew that De Moeren would be crucial, and we had already used one of our guys, but we were still four or five men in the front group, so that was really good. It meant we were always one step ahead, which is important in this race. So, when you have someone like Mads, who just rides away from everyone, it’s pretty easy to cover everything from behind."
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🎩 Chapeau @Mads__Pedersen!!! That was special to watch 🤩#GW25 pic.twitter.com/r59ZID1Wmf
— Lidl-Trek (@LidlTrek) March 30, 2025
Mads, Ganna, MvdP, Pogi were all in MSR, and will all be in both RVV and PR, the problem here is Remco because he doesn't race anything. This year because of injuries, before that, no idea why not
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- if there is an actual weakness in wout even when completely healthy, it’s that he’s in his head too often. this has been pointed out many times by much more acute observers of cycling than ME, certainly. it may be that he’s been like this since he was a little kid. we are who we are. or that he was shaped by having faced van der poel SOOO many times. mvdp has zero second thoughts. he wastes no time at all on doubt. that has, in the past, led him to do some pretty insane things and make mistakes that wout would never have committed. but it also makes him a killer. you can see wout’s split seconds of doubt and hesitation everywhere in their head to head battles. those hesitations spill over into other races at times like dwars, when doubt creeps in. i believe that currently he is still coming back from physical problems due to injuries, but even when he’s full strength the mental game is an area of potential concern, AND potential improvement.OCexile03-04-2025
- Not only the public, just about every analyst and commentator had been piling it on. Under the circumstances I’d even say he’s showing real character. Not sure likeable Tadej would manage as well during a longer rough patch.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Took a while but we finally have a more nuanced analysis.Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- If I remember right, it was those same hungry journalists selling us a different story less than a year ago about the bleak future of Dutch (men’s) cycling with no possible successor for MVDP ;-)Mistermaumau03-04-2025
- Good, hopefully Jonas goes also so we get a nice duelvappaxbipmv03-04-2025
- right? i think it’s hungry journalists that fuel this, and i understand the jam they can be in trying to create stories, but you’d hate to think ANYONE is failing to appreciate how RARE someone like van der poel is (or how LUCKY we are to have both mvdp and pog racing at the same time). a little perspective is a good thing…OCexile03-04-2025
- Anyone know how long that 213km ride took? Coz without that the segment speeds don’t reveal anything surprising. If it took him Less than 5h ok but otherwise it was just some interval training for him.Jumpyjohn03-04-2025
- Hinault was even lighter than Pog at 62 kg when he won PR in 1981, beating Roger van Vlaeminck no less (albeit at the fag end of the latter's career), so it can be done.Cooldude03-04-2025
- Having to shoulder too much pressure from the Belgain public too much that he made a tactical mistake. That's what public pressure does to you. Poor Wout! Hopefully, lady luck befalls him soon.
KerisVroom03-04-2025 - If he's very lucky maybe he can podium a Tour one season, I certainly don't believe he can win it, evervappaxbipmv03-04-2025