"Those two guys are still on a different level" - Mads Pedersen insists Pogacar & Van der Poel remain Monument favourites despite making Gent Wevelgem history

For the third time in his illustrious career, Mads Pedersen has bagged the win at Gent Wevelgem in 2025. Although both his other wins came in competitive sprints though, this time the Dane was utterly dominant, soloing for more than 55 kilometres en route to his incredibly impressive success.

"It's crazy. I never expected to to be able to do something like this," Pedersen reflected afterwards in his post-race interview, having joined such notable names as Peter Sagan, Tom Boonen, Mario Cipollini, Eddy Merckx, Rik van Looy and Robert Van Eenaeme in an all-star group of three-time Gent Wevelgem winners. "To win here again is super nice."

As mentioned, in both of Pedersen's previous wins, it was a sprint that settled today. This time though, the Dane was not leaving it to chance. "It was in favour of being alone with the full tailwind in the last 20k. On the plugstreets I had really good legs, so I was like 'OK, let's try to open the race'," continues Pedersen, explaining his decision to not wait for the sprint this time around. "And then, it was the point of no return. This could have ended in shit also, but today it went well, so luckily it was a good decision."

Despite this win though, Pedersen isn't getting too ahead of himself in regards to the Classics to come, especially given the presence of Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel this Spring. "It's a different race than this is, and you know, those two guys are still on a different level," concludes the Lidl-Trek leader honestly. "We saw it Friday with Mathieu. He just dropped me on the Kwaremont. And we also know Tadej is a pretty good bike rider, so he he's able to do the same. Of course this gives some confidence for Sunday, and we believe we can win, but it's not going to be easy at all."