Mads Pedersen ambitious ahead of Paris-Roubaix: "The absolute dream scenario for me would of course be to finish alone, with a lead of a minute or two"

Mads Pedersen is motivated, he has said in the pre-race press conference at Paris-Roubaix that the stars are aligned and it may be his best ever chance of winning a monument. The leader of Lidl-Trek is on great form, with a strong and experienced team, and hopes of be Mathieu van der Poel's biggest rival on the road this Sunday.

"It is no secret that Jasper Philipsen will be difficult to beat in the sprint. If it becomes a sprint with a small group, then I of course hope that he is no longer there," the Dane said to many at this Friday's press conference, in words collected by Wielerflits. "The absolute dream scenario for me would of course be to finish alone, with a lead of a minute or two. Without stress. Then you can still have a puncture in the last twenty kilometers.”

Of course, that is a very ambitious and non-realistic scenario, but a victory is not. Pedersen has won Gent - Wevelgem this spring ahead of the World Champion, a race where Lidl-Trek proved that they can use their numbers to do great damage. Jonathan Milan was the other key figure on that day and the Italian powerhouse himself will be a very interesting figure in the cobbles of northern France after the form he displayed this spring.

However as Pedersen knows, this is a race that is about much more than just the legs or tactics. Despite being good, he hasn't yet won Roubaix: “I think it's more a combination of bad luck and not being good enough. I said last year that my main goal for this race was to finally get to the final. And this year we are going for the same approach. Of course I dream of winning the competition, but I also know how tough it is and that first and foremost you have to make sure that your material will hold up.”

The Dane was fourth last year and is looking to improve on that this time around, with the podium being very possible. “You have to be lucky that you don't have a puncture at the wrong time or have something else in mind for your bike," he is aware of however. 

"But it is true: if you look at the race itself, the course, you see much fewer elevation meters than in the Tour of Flanders. It's more about developing high speed and that suits me better. I just have to prove it with good results.”