Mads Pedersen aims to dethrone Pogacar and Van der Poel in monument hunt - 'I believe I can beat them'

“It’s pretty clear that I am still hunting that monument,” said Pedersen to reporters in Denia when asked what his ambitions are for 2026.

The Dane has an impressive 60 professional victories to his name, but still desires the opportunity to raise his arms aloft in a Monument race. Milano-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are the three monuments that Pedersen has come close to on multiple occasions, finishing on the podium of the latter two in 2025. 

Until now, there have been two main problems for Pedersen in the form of Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar. The duo have won eight out of the last nine races of Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix, Van der Poel with six and Pogačar with two. 

Neither is set to be going away anytime soon, leaving Pedersen with a challenge to solve, but the self-belief is there for the former World Champion that he can beat the duo.

“That’s my dream race, that’s why I’m hired by this team, to try and win these races. If I didn’t believe I could win these races, why would my team believe it also?” said Pedersen when asked about Paris-Roubaix.

“It's still something demanding, you know, and it's tough guys to be up against. We truly believe it is possible to beat them, but I'm also fully aware that these guys are bigger talents and better riders than me,” said Pedersen. 

“But on specific days, I also believe it is possible to beat them. I have shown it before, at least with one of them. Tadej [Pogačar] is a different shell to crack. We will keep working on being the best versions of ourselves to win these races. We believe it’s possible to improve and get the last 1%, 2%, to beat these guys.”

Pedersen was also asked specifically if he believes he could beat the best version of Van der Poel once more, having most significantly done so at Gent-Wevelgem in 2024, before outsprinting him to 2nd at the Tour of Flanders in 2025 behind Pogačar.

“Yeah. I haven’t been far off. In Flanders, I beat him [Van der Poel] fair and square. He popped maybe 5km after me, but at the finish line, I was still faster than him, and he was the best version of himself,” said Pedersen. 

“So yes, definitely I believe I can beat him, otherwise I wouldn’t work my ass off every day, I would just sit down and say ‘ok I’ll take second best and that’s fine’”

Milano-Sanremo is another race where Pedersen has illustrated impressive consistency, finishing in the top 10 of the last four editions. 

However, he acknowledged that if he wants to win, he will need to improve his climbing, with the race being opened up earlier, particularly in 2025, when the race-winning move went clear on the Cipressa climb. The Dane also drew inspiration from the fact that Filippo Ganna was able to go with the duo of Pogačar and Van der Poel and finish 2nd in 2025.

“I have to improve with this 10-minute effort on the Cipressa. Now, when I saw [Filippo] Ganna there, I believed I could be there as well, without taking anything away from Ganna because he’s a top-notch guy and rider as well,” said Pedersen. “But I know I am able to do the same, and that’s why I believe that I can win that race.”

The Dane is set to tackle all three monuments in the first part of his season, before turning preparations towards the Tour de France after a year's absence from the race.