Mads Pedersen has turbulent early months of 2025. The Dane was ill early on in the season, but at Paris-Nice his climbing legs seemed better than ever with view to anticipated Milano-Sanremo.
However, the Dane had no answer to the attack from Pogacar, Van der Poel, and Filippo Ganna on the Cipressa, which meant the 2019 world champion was never in the mix for victory. "Those three guys were simply stronger," laughed sports director Steven de Jongh in an interview with IDLProCycling.com.
As it turns out, Pedersen fell ill after Paris-Nice, where the bad weather played with both riders and organizers. Pedersen seemed to be above the thing when he climbed with the best, but ultimately the harsh conditions caught up to him too. "That took a bit of the sharpness away from him," concluded Steven De Jongh. "But he’s okay again now. So we’re happy with the condition of our team leaders."
Pedersen wasn’t the only rider on the team to fall ill. For example Daan Hoole had to sit out Brugge-De Panne. "The team is in good shape, but we’ve had some illness. Though I think most teams have dealt with sickness lately. For us, everyone is either healthy or almost fully recovered, so things are looking good."
Lidl-Trek jerseys were nowhere to be seen after Tadej Pogacar's acceleration on Cipressa even though Pedersen managed to sneak up to 7th place in the final. Not what the American team came for, but anything on top was outside their reach at the moment. "In a race like Milano-Sanremo, you can’t do as much as a team. It’s a very different race compared to what’s coming up. In the upcoming races, you can do a lot more as a collective."
Van der Poel won’t be riding Gent Wevelgem this year, but he will be at the start of the E3 Saxo Classic. Is that a rider Lidl-Trek will take special precaution for? "Of course, Mathieu will be a really tough opponent for us, but we’re going to try. We managed it last year in Gent Wevelgem, so we’re not giving up," said De Jongh.
Read also
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- JV is really slighting himself with not doing the 1 dayers.. 🤷
leedorney02-11-2026 - Watch the interview on youtube. I don't speak French. I do speak English and Spanish and you can hear it in his voice. Years ago LeMond had real personal problems I imagine in no small part because of Armstrong. then Armstrong goes round "full blast" re: LeMond having drinking and drug problems. The same way Andreu was expelled from mainstream cycling so was LeMond. On the positive side the clips of the ride and chatting with old teammates and was good. To seemed like a fun day and experience and good reason brush up his French.atom02-11-2026
- and another no-news article around the ‚2 tokyo jogging rounds‘ headline, this time spiced with some days old ‚news‘ that the LA and japan vacation trips come during or after the tdf route release. i am getting more and more annoyed by this time-stealing no-news crap. but who am i to complain? nobody forces me to come back for more ‚news‘ day after day …Ketterechts02-11-2026
- It would likely be a very steep section of 4.1 km, not changing the average gradient considerably, with the climb remaining 10.1 km at 11.8%. It would reach 20% on the gravel. It would start 1.6 km in, and finish with 4.2 km left to climb (before the short final descent)
Rafionain-Glas02-11-2026 - Welcome to the off-season.
santiagobenites02-11-2026 - guillaume martin in this list is quite a surprise as a gc rider.Ketterechts02-11-2026
- Who cares what Bruyneel thinks. He and his best mate Lance, the biggest fraud in the history of sport, have no place commenting on anything but how to lie and cheat!whit2pet02-11-2026
- Eeesh!Lozza02-11-2026
- bravo! a rider likes jonas needs motivation and he needs to believe in being able to reach goals. he - like anybody else in the world - doesn't believe that he can win the tdf with pogi present. and what's it worth for when pogi is not there? second class victory only. he has checked all three grand tours, so what is left if not retire? the classics! go for it, jonas!Ketterechts02-11-2026
- i am sure that under the pretext of medical examination a lot worse has happened when they were under.abstractengineer02-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment