Mads Pedersen's Milan-Sanremo mystery solved: sports director explains why (logically) things went wrong

In the run-up to Milan-Sanremo, there were five top favorites: Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel, Filippo Ganna, Tom Pidcock, and Mads Pedersen. The first three were at the Cipressa, but where were the other two? We only found out what happened in the days following La Primavera.

Pidcock and Pedersen finished in the chasing group but did not participate in the race at any point. The British rider from Q36.5 announced after the race that he was at the foot of the Cipressa when the crash happened, while the Lidl-Trek team initially remained anxiously silent. Pedersen sprinted to seventh place but did not comment further afterward.

On Monday, team leader Kim Andersen came to the Danish cycling site Feltet with an explanation. "Of course, Mads was disappointed. We had hoped for more, but it had not been an ideal week for him. It has not been made public yet, but Mads became ill after Paris-Nice. As a result, the training in the run-up to the race was not what it should have been."

After his good performance in France, the Dane was considered one of the favorites. In the Race to the Sun, Pedersen was especially impressed on the climbs, including a top ten place in the queen stage. He also won a stage and ultimately won the points jersey after a formidable final stage in the hills around Nice.

Read more below the photo!

Pedersen competes in E3 Saxo Classic on Friday

The germs did vanish from the body of the Dane, who rode so strongly in Paris-Nice in time. "But it was not the preparation we would have liked." Lidl-Trek tried to save the day with Giulio Ciccone and others, but it was too late. After a sprint preparation by Jasper Stuyven - and in the absence of Jonathan Milan - a seventh place turned out to be the best they could do.

Pedersen heads to Flanders, where he will start the cobbled classics on Friday with the E3 Saxo Classic. Two days later, he will start Gent-Wevelgem as the defending champion and then also ride Dwars door Vlaanderen, the Tour of Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix. His dream this spring is still to win a Monument.

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