Mads Pedersen is one of the first riders to announce their spring programme for 2025, and the Dane has made it absolutely clear that his main target is Paris-Roubaix. Pedersen’s coach Mattias Reck revealed more about the plans to Ekstra Bladet.
Pedersen, of Lidl-Trek, was in top form throughout 2024, but probably did not pick up anywhere near as many wins as he deserved. The 2019 World Champion is yet to win a monument, and in 2024 he came fourth at Milano-Sanremo, third at Paris-Roubaix, and only 22nd at the Tour of Flanders. Of course, Pedersen was unfortunate to be racing alongside Mathieu van der Poel, the undisputed king of the cobbles.
Reck, his coach, said, “We’re not going to do anything different. It fits so well, so we’re going to copy and paste what we’ve done so far in the run-up to Paris-Roubaix. He’ll do two stage races in February. It’ll probably be in France, like this year, when he did Bessèges and Provence. Then he’ll go to training camp in Mallorca, then he’ll do Paris-Nice, and then he’ll do all the big classics.”
It was only a few weeks ago that Pedersen confirmed via Instagram that his main goal of the season was Paris Roubaix, as he said, “Everything I do is with one goal in mind.” Which Grand Tour he will race at afterwards, remains to be seen.
"Everything after spring is uncertain," Reck said. "We will have to see what the team and sponsors want regarding the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España."