Illness forces Mads Pedersen out of Gent-Wevelgem

Mads Pedersen has been ruled out of Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday, denying him the chance to claim a fourth victory in the race. The Dane revealed that he has been suffering from a cold in recent days and Lidl-Trek took the decision to withdraw him from the race after he placed ninth at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday.

It’s the latest setback of a difficult start to 2026 for Pedersen, who sustained fractures to his collarbone and wrist on his first race day of the year at the Tour de Provence in February.

Pedersen returned to action sooner than expected at Milan-Sanremo, placing a fine fourth on the Via Roma, but he was never really in the hunt for victory at E3 on Friday. 

Speaking in a video published by Lidl-Trek on Saturday, Pedersen struck a positive note about the state of his wrist injury, insisting that his absence from Gent-Wevelgem – renamed as In Flanders Fields: From Middelkerke to Wevelgem – was solely due to illness.

“I have some sad news regarding the race tomorrow, In Flanders Fields,” Pedersen said. “I won’t take the start due to sickness. I was dealing with a cold the last few days and it definitely also affected the race yesterday at E3, so the team and the medical staff took a decision for me not to race and keep the focus on the coming week.

This has nothing to do with the wrist. The wrist is moving forward and it’s a lot better than expected. The muscles around the wrist are sore due to lack of movement over the last five or six weeks, but that’s totally normal. So no worries about the wrist, it’s all due to sickness.”

Jonathan Milan will lead Lidl-Trek’s challenge in the absence of Pedersen, who won with a stirring solo effort in 2025 after beating Mathieu van der Poel in a two-up sprint the previous year.

Lidl-Trek indicated that Pedersen will return to action at Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday as he builds towards the Tour of Flanders next weekend. Pedersen placed second at last year’s Ronde before taking third at Paris-Roubaix.