Denmark is one of the few teams that will go into the men's Olympic Games Road Race with four riders. It is a very complete team with strong riders and a strong leader in Mads Pedersen that doesn't come into the race with modest ambitions; but instead is focused on the victory.
"I'm here to win. The climbs are tough enough to drain our energy a bit," Pedersen said in words to TV2. "That's good for me, if it's going to be a tough race. I also always like a technical course like the one in Paris".
Pedersen is a specialist in the one-day races and classics, and it can be argued that this is a virtually perfect course for him. The Dane first came into the scene with a huge surprising victory at the 2019 World Championships in Yorkshire that was a race marked by the long distances and constant non-steep climbs.
Pedersen has since evolved into a rider that is very consistent in the cobbled classics. This year he won Gent-Wevelgem, finished third at Paris-Roubaix and fourth in Milano-Sanremo. Last season he was fourth in the World Championships and Paris-Roubaix and finished in the Top10 of Milano-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders, European Championships, Dwars door Vlaanderen and Gent-Wevelgem; besides victories in races including the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France.
Few riders can do what he does, and if he achieves the same level he will be a clear contender for victory in Paris. Alongside Mattias Skjelmose and Mikkel Bjerg the team has the chance to race on the attack from far and put others under pressure. Pedersen hasn't raced since the first week of the Tour de France where he abandoned due to a crash but that hasn't lowered his ambitions.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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