Mads Pedersen knows how to win Gent-Wevelgem — in 2020, he triumphed from a small group sprint, in 2024 he overpowered Mathieu van der Poel in a two-man drag race, and on Sunday he launched a solo raid with 56km to go. He is now a joint record holder at the race, alongside the likes of Eddy Merckx, Tom Boonen and Peter Sagan as a three-time winner. His hat-trick at Gent-Wevelgem was a landmark win for the Lidl-Trek rider as it was his 50th career victory and also the first time he has won a major Classic from a long-range solo attack.
These days, long-range attacks are often the way that the best bike riders win races and Pedersen’s effort was the longest solo break in the Classics this year — further than Van der Poel’s procession to victory at the E3 Saxo Classic on Friday and also Tadej Pogačar’s dominant win at Strade Bianche earlier in the month. Was Pedersen’s ride a test for himself, as well as a sign of things to come? He is a rider who has always thrived in attritional races and his tactic of attacking early in Gent-Wevelgem was an astute one, given all the best sprinters in the peloton were on the start line including Japser Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and his own teammate Jonathan Milan.
Mads Pedersen crossing the finish line with 49 seconds over the peloton (Photo: Zac Williams / SWpix)
Lidl-Trek played the race to perfection. The confidence of having one of the best sprinters in Milan allowed Pedersen to take the risk of the long-range attack, meaning Jasper Stuyven, Alex Kirsch, Toms Skujiņš did not have to do any work on the front of the chasing peloton and only had to monitor the situation and set up their Italian fast-man for the sprint for the podium, where he was close to beating Merlier to second place. The last 24 hours have treated the team well. On top of Pedersen and Milan’s exploits at Gent-Wevelgem, Quinn Simmons took stage six at the Volta a Catalunya. Confidence will certainly be high and the team have confirmed they are now ahead of the struggling Team Visma-Lease a Bike in the Classics pecking order as they enter the most important week of the spring racing period.
Two Lidl-Trek riders on the podium at Gent-Wevelgem (Photo: Zac Williams / SWpix)
The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix await. Next weekend, Pedersen and his pack of Lidl-Trek teammates will face the two Classics big dogs, Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar — riders who love to open the race up early. As Pedersen knows after Friday’s E3, staying with Van der Poel in the last two hours of a Classic, in his current shape, is nigh on impossible, a feat only Pogačar seems capable of. However, unlike other riders with less distinguished palmarès, Pedersen should no longer ride for podium spots — something Van der Poel and Pogačar never do. With a road World Championship win, stage victories at all three Grand Tours, and previous podium finishes at both Flanders and Roubaix, he will not need to race conservatively and can risk losing a top five spot in order to win the Monuments. At Gent-Wevelgem he proved he is willing to put it all on the line for victory.
In another era, Pedersen’s attributes and ability would have resulted in at least one Monument victory; his problem is that he is riding in a time where there are two titanic talents ahead of him in the hierarchy, riders capable of making the implausible look easy. Often when Van der Poel and Pogačar get away after an attack, their gap to the group behind continues to expand. Although Sunday’s victory seemed all-but assured with an hour to go, Pedersen’s gap to the peloton did begin to drop — not to a worryingly narrow margin but it was notable. You can’t help but feel when it comes to the last hour of racing, the Big Two have too much strength, freshness and — crucially — experience to let a Monument-winning opportunity slip.
Pedersen on the way to his third Gent-Wevelgem title (Photo: Zac Williams / SWpix)
Moreover neither Van der Poel, who found out at last year’s Gent-Wevelgem sprint, nor Pogačar, will be content with Pedersen being with them in the finales of Flanders and Roubaix. They will be intent on getting rid of him, which will not favour his chances, but with Sunday’s win and Wout van Aert’s apparent struggle to find form, the Lidl-Trek man has firmly cemented himself as the third favourite for both Flanders and Roubaix. Now a Classics record-holder, a career half-century winner, and long-range attacker, Pedersen has joined a number of esteemed clubs. The one that he wants to be part of the most — a Monument winner — is in his sights. If the two big dogs eye each other too closely, the Great Dane might just stride away for victory.
