'It might be impossible' - Mads Pedersen still battling for Classics comeback

Mads Pedersen has conceded that it “might be impossible” to return to competition in time for the cobbled Classics after he sustained fractures to his collarbone and wrist in a crash on the opening day of the Volta Comunitat Valenciana.

Speaking on his Lang Distance podcast on Monday morning, Pedersen ruled out participation at Paris-Nice and suggested that he was also highly unlikely to ride Milan-San Remo as he recovers from his injuries.

“It already looks really difficult,” Pedersen said. “All it takes is one more setback. If there’s one more kick in the nuts, it might be impossible. But I have to try, both for my own sake and for the boys around me. I have to try to make it work.”

The Lidl-Trek rider also revealed that he crashed off the road on a narrow descent at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana, and the doctors who treated him on the roadside initially feared that he had broken his back.

Pedersen was back on the turbo trainer within five days of his crash, however, prompting former teammate Jasper Stuyven to back his chances of recovering in time for the Classics. Directeur sportif Kim Andersen was more circumspect when he spoke to Feltet about the idea, pointing to Pedersen’s broken wrist as a complicating factor.

Pedersen has been the biggest challenger to Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar’s hegemony on the cobbles in recent years. The former world champion won Gent-Wevelgem for the third time last Spring before finishing on the podium at both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

Speaking to reporters at the Lidl-Trek media day in Denia in December, Pedersen was bullish about his prospects of beating Van der Poel and Pogacar to a Monument in 2026.

“We truly believe it is possible to beat them,” Pedersen said. “I’m also fully aware that these guys are bigger talents and better riders than me. But on specific days, I also believe it is possible to beat them. I have shown it before, at least with one of them.”