Mads Pedersen wants to win the Tour of Flanders: "If you let it come down to a man-to-man fight, Mathieu will drop me"

Mads Pedersen has won a lot during his career, but never a monument thus far. On the form of his life, the Lidl-Trek leader looks at the Tour of Flanders with a lot of motivation, and the desire to attack and try to beat a star-studded field.

Pedersen looked in incredible form during Paris-Nice in all aspects, and although Milano-Sanremo didn't go his way, his attacks and second place at the E3 Saxo Classic where mighty impressive. He then backed that up with a monstruous win at Gent Wevelgem where an almost 70-kilometer long attack succeeded almost by himself whilst being chased by a peloton.

“I don’t know if those races gave me confidence: that confidence is always there. I’m just looking forward to today. It’s a different race, so it’s hard to compare," Pedersen told CyclingPro.net this morning in Bruges.

Today's is much more difficult and focused on the climbing, which favours the likes of Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar. A podium would indeed be a very good result for the Dane already, but he wants a win, and for that he can't just wait to try and follow on the day's climbs.

“I’ve said it many times: if we want to beat these guys, we have to ride as a unit. Lidl-Trek has to be one big team. That’s how you can beat them," he argues. "If you let it come down to a man-to-man fight, Mathieu will drop me, like in the E3 Saxo Classic," Pedersen believes.

How he will be able to anticipate his rivals is a big question, but he is not alone in it, and Visma may even be a good ally in such a scenario. “Those two are by far the best. We have to see what we can do, but it’s not impossible. If I didn’t believe I could win, I wouldn’t be at the start.”