Lidl-Trek brings Pedersen back at Dwars door Vlaanderen and identifies biggest Monument opportunity

It has been an ill-starred start to 2026 for Pedersen, who suffered a broken wrist and collarbone on his first day of racing at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in February. He defied expectations by returning in time for Milan-Sanremo, placing fourth on the Via Roma, but he found himself on the sidelines once again when his efforts at the E3 Saxo Classic exacerbated a nagging cold.

Speaking to Domestique in Waregem on Tuesday, Lidl-Trek directeur sportif Grégory Rast believed that the decision to withdraw Pedersen from Gent-Wevelgem was the right one.

“It's never good to have a cold, but it was a decision with the doctor and himself to miss Gent-Wevelgem,” Rast said. “I think if he raced, he would maybe have been gone for the rest of the Classics, so it was a bit of a precaution.”

Pedersen had looked subdued at E3, nowhere to be seen when Mathieu van der Poel accelerated on the Taaienberg and eventually finishing ninth in Harelbeke. Rast confirmed that Pedersen had already been feeling the effects of his illness in the days after Milan-Sanremo.

“He was a little bit sick and then it just went a bit worse after E3, because that’s a really hard race, maybe the toughest of them all,” said Rast.

Both team and rider will hope missing out on chasing a record fourth win at Gent-Wevelgem will amount to little more than a footnote to his Spring. Pedersen has made no secret of his desire to add a Monument to his palmarès, and the first two Sundays in April are the two most important days of his year. 

When he crashed heavily on the opening stage of the Volta Valenciana, however, it initially looked as though Pedersen might miss the Classics altogether. Pedersen’s swift return to the turbo trainer raised hopes, but a broken wrist doesn’t heal on vibes and determination alone. 

“When it happened, I was like, ‘Okay, it’s Mads,’ so maybe it’s possible,” Rast said. “But the first prognosis was that he’d come back for Roubaix or maybe for Flanders, but not before. So when they called us and said he was ready for Sanremo, it was also a bit of a surprise for us – but a positive one.”

Milan-Sanremo is a very different challenge to the Ronde and Roubaix, but Pedersen’s remarkable display there offered some reassurance for the remainder of the Spring. Indeed, on the Poggio, as Lidl-Trek chased Tadej Pogačar’s winning attack, the prospect of a maiden Monument victory was briefly entertained, though Pedersen would ultimately have to settle for winning the sprint for fourth.

“We wanted to bring back this group with Pogačar, and we had a team to do that, and let’s say it almost worked out,” Rast said. 

“Mads was much better than we expected for the first race after such an injury. He was surprisingly good, but you saw the team really believed in him and they followed the plan. He was close to the podium and, with a little bit more luck, maybe he could even win it.”

While illness impeded him in Harelbeke, Pedersen reported that his wrist injury held up well to the rigours of racing on the cobbles and hills of the Flemish Ardennes at E3. Dwars door Vlaanderen will offer another test, of his injury and his form, before the main events on the next two Sundays.

Twelve months ago, Pedersen was the best of the rest behind the Pogačar-Van der Poel duels at Flanders and Roubaix. He nudged ahead of Van der Poel to claim second at the Ronde, while he was third a week later in Roubaix. Pedersen will aim to be in the game again in 2026, even if Pogačar, in particular, can travel to places nobody else can reach.

“In Sanremo, there were good circumstances to fight against Pogi because there were quite a lot of teams ready to try to bring him back,” Rast said. 

“But Flanders is way different, and I think if you go head-to-head with him, it’s difficult. If you’re there with him on the third time up the Kwaremont, it’s very difficult to stay with him. We don’t want to give up, of course, but we need to take the chance when we get one.

“We believe in both Flanders and Roubaix, like we also believed in Sanremo. But the biggest one, and the biggest chance, is still Roubaix.”