TDT-Unibet rider retires "to be a full-time father" after winning trial for custody of his children

Nicklas Pedersen was, by some, dubbed as the "father" of the young and innovative ProTeam TDT-Unibet. But now the 31-year-old Danish rider, who had previously extended his contract until 2027, surprises with a retirement announcement to become a "full-time father".

"A lot has happened lately," the Dane tells his story on the socials of TDT-Unibet. "The most important thing is that I got custody of my two beautiful children. A few years ago I got divorced, after that I didn’t get to see my children as much as I wanted."

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Nicklas Pedersen was among the top riders at the Danish national scene between 2016-19 but at the end of the pre-covid year, he quit cycling to focus on a full-time job and his family. However things didn't develop as he would have wished and Pedersen got divorced and his children went under ex-wife's care.

As he suddenly found himself with a lot of free time, Pedersen regained his passion in cycling in 2022 and ultimately made a professional debut with TDT-Unibet in 2024 at the age of 30.

"Besides my fulltime job I had a lot of free time. That was the reason to dive deeper into the 'cycling game', to clear my mind. Very quickly I climbed to the elite level. At that time I was not really dreaming about a pro career, but when Bas wrote to me, the dream came back."

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Pedersen immediately showed his worth with a solo victory at the Ster van Zwolle (1.2) in March. But at the time things were already getting complicated once again as he sought to regain the custody of his kids. The team was open to adjust Pedersen's schedule to allow him to settle family matters and still complete 44 racing days in 2024. Despite the complications, the team was ready to offer Pedersen a contract extension.

“I have been honest about my private situation from the start. The entire management has done everything they could to make my racing schedule work with my private life. I am very grateful for that support. The team was happy with me and Julia (Soek, team manager, ed.) offered to extend my contract. That was a big surprise. I am no longer the youngest, but I was still allowed to stay until 2027.”

Pedersen eventually shook hands with the team, but family now takes priority and the Dane knows it's not possible to combine both full-time cycling and full-time fatherhood. "I have to make a decision about my future. That is actually very easy, because no race comes close to spending more time with my children. It was not a choice, it was automatic to call Julia and say: I am now a full-time father and I am stopping racing."

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‘I retire as a pro cyclist and this is why.’ 🩵 - 𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗮𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗻

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