"Mads is much more involved than Mathieu": Soren Kragh Andersen compares the perception of the two stars

Sharing a roster with a cycling superstar is a privilege few riders experience in their careers. Soren Kragh Andersen has managed it twice. First at Alpecin-Deceuninck with Mathieu van der Poel (in 2023 and 2024), and from 2025 at Lidl-Trek with Mads Pedersen.

The Dane is already viewed as one of the peloton’s elite alongside the Dutchman, Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic, and Wout van Aert. So when Kragh Andersen spoke to Feltet, comparing Pedersen and Van der Poel was inevitable.

"Mads is much more involved. He brings me and everyone around him into his project, and into his thinking on planning and training. Whereas Van der Poel, of course, needed us, but only on race day, and the rest of the time it mattered a bit less to him. He had his own setup," began Soren Kragh Andersen.

Mathieu van der Poel has long had the reputation of being a rider for specific moments. He has never emptied himself across an entire calendar year. His targets have been few, major of course, but few. That’s not a negative, but it’s different from a rider like Mads Pedersen, who does focus on competing across three weeks at Grand Tours, for example. In 2025, he accumulated 74 race days, nearly double the amount of Van der Poel (41).

"Mads is a friend, both because we’ve known each other since we were kids and because of who he is here in the team. I don’t think there’s a single rider on the team who doesn’t see him as a friend, which makes him a bit different," Andersen added about how close-knit he believes Mads Pedersen is with all his Lidl-Trek teammates.

Even so, Soren Kragh Andersen stressed his words were in no way a criticism of Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman simply has a different approach to racing. Beyond road cycling, he also does mountain bikes and cyclocross without his teammates, often creating a distance between Van der Poel and his colleagues. Meanwhile Pedersen is 100% involved with Lidl-Trek from the first training camp in December until the last after-season meet-up in October.