A degree win, a inexperienced jersey, a top-10 summit end striking and an extended wreck at the closing, very hilly day of racing: surely about it, Mads Pedersen’s vastly spectacular finale to the 2025 version of Paris-Great has driven the Danish famous person in opposition to the highest of the contenders’ hierarchy for Milan-San Remo subsequent Saturday.
After an asymmetric begin to the race, the Lidl-Trek rider’s dramatic lowered dash victory on Friday after echelons and dangerous climate ripped degree 6 aside would were greater than sufficient to spice up Pedersen’s standing as a favorite for the By means of Roma.
However the Classics specialist and previous global champion then confirmed a couple of GC favorite a blank pair of heels at the two mountainous days that adopted. He first took 10th at the Mont Auron on Saturday then went on an 83-kilometre transfer 24 hours later throughout the Alpine foothills outdoor Great to seal his grasp at the issues festival general.
On the similar time, Lidl-Trek produce other high-profile choices past Pedersen for San Remo. Simply a few hours previous to the Dane stepping onto the rostrum to assert inexperienced at the Prom des Anglais, at Tirreno-Adriatico his teammate Jonathan Milan clinched a 2nd degree victory in six days.
An uncongenial crash for 2021 Milan-San Remo winner Jasper Stuyven within the ultimate kilometre of Tirreno-Adriatico didn’t prevent the Belgian from completing and can most likely give Lidl but every other card to play subsequent weekend. However similarly, Milan’s doubling of his 2025 Tirreno win tally on Sunday following an preliminary victory on degree 2 confirms that the Italian’s personal dangerous crash on degree 3 is hastily being forgotten.
“It was important to finish Tirreno-Adriatico,” Milan stated in his last press convention in feedback reported via Bici.professional. “It was like the circle was completed.”
“This last stage was a goal, I’d have liked to get some more results during the week, but I wasn’t feeling great [after crashing on stage 3 – Ed.] and the important thing was to recover.
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“Proper after the autumn I actually considered preventing. I used to be actually sore and had issues, particularly with my elbow and ankle. Some other blow to my facet handiest emerged later, after I realised that I could not push onerous with my left leg.”
Milan said that the fact he was able to pedal, though, confirmed that nothing was broken and he could continue on to try first to finish the stage and then for more wins. That process was marked by the initial milestone of his second 2025 Tirreno stage victory on Sunday at San Benedetto del Tronto, and will now be followed by his fourth participation in Milan-San Remo.
Asked by Gazzetta dello Sport if he sometimes felt when Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was present – as he will be on Saturday – as if he could be racing for a runner’s-up spot Milan said “I don’t believe anyone thinks that during a race like San Remo and in my view I by no means get started a race driving for 2nd.”
“Clearly we’re going to have to observe Tadej, however there are many riders can do one thing there, like [Filippo] Ganna, who is simply accomplished a super Tirreno.”
As for whether it was too soon to imagine he could be there in San Remo, Milan said, “I have no idea about that, if I am just right, I am just right. What is sure is that we’re going to have an excessively robust staff in San Remo and an excessively united one, so we’re going to see what I will do. I am in just right form, in reality I would say I am going higher than I believed.”
Lidl-Trek’s other two options
Milan would be the top favourite for Lidl-Trek should San Remo come down to a bunch sprint. But another key player for Lidl-Trek may well be Stuyven, despite his crash on Sunday.
Immediately after falling and crossing the line, the 2021 San Remo winner told media at Tirreno that the fall “used to be just a little silly. A few guys were not paying consideration and rode into the again of me. That is very unlucky.”
“My accidents aren’t too dangerous, however it used to be a troublesome blow to my pelvis and head. Confidently it isn’t a concussion.”
As for Pedersen, the 29-year-old was logically very upbeat in his post-Paris-Nice press conference, saying that “Going into Milan-San Remo and the opposite Classics, it is having a look excellent, now we simply have to stick wholesome and stay it going.”
“He can win the Primavera,” Lidl-Trek staff supervisor Steven de Jongh advised Het Laatste Nieuws. “He undoubtedly has the qualities for it.”
“Alternatively, whether or not it in fact occurs relies on a variety of elements. The elements, the process the race, which staff member survives via to the general with him, the opposition he faces on the end: those are all other components, particularly in an unpredictable race like Milan-San Remo.”
De Jongh argued that while there are other sprinters who are faster than Pedersen, a San Remo run in bad weather could be exactly what the Dane – who thrives in poor conditions like the Worlds in 2019 or Paris-Nice last Friday – needs to turn the race in his favour.
“After a chilly and really rainy day, he’s frequently a few of the most powerful and quickest ‘survivors’,” De Jongh pointed out before warning, “It is very tough to get a hold of the best technique prematurely. If you’re making a plan A, you normally finally end up with plan B or plan C.”
