Mads Pedersen won’t experience the Excursion de France in 2025 as he heads to the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España as a substitute. Jonathan Milan is now set to steer Lidl-Trek’s dash ambitions in July.
There used to be communicate that the pair may head to the Excursion in combination, with Pedersen to steer out Milan when they paired up completely at the Lidl-Deutschland Excursion in 2024, alternatively, Lidl-Trek have opted to separate their powers between the 3 Grand Excursions searching for a sweep of the issues jerseys.
Former global champion Pedersen will experience a “copy-paste” agenda up till the race he needs to win maximum, Paris-Roubaix, sooner than heading again to the Giro for the fourth time in his occupation.
“Until Roubaix, it’s a copy-paste of the other years, starting in France, training camp, Paris-Nice and the Classics from there on. After that, I will have a smaller break because I’m going to the Giro this year,” stated Pedersen in a press convention on Friday.
“After the Giro, I will, of course, try to keep the shape going until the Sprint Challenge Copenhagen, the new WorldTour race, and then national championships a week after.
“There will probably be no Excursion de France for me this yr. I will be able to have a summer season at house, after which I will be able to do the Excursion of Denmark, and I will be able to do a Vuelta afterwards.”
Pedersen confirmed that Milan would make his debut and be the chosen sprinter for the Tour, as he’s better suited to the route with seven possible sprint opportunities en route from Lille to Paris.
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After Milan quadrupled his win tally at the Giro last year from one stage victory to four and defended his ciclamino points jersey at the same time, Lidl-Trek have a better chance at winning multiple stages of the Tour with the Italian, believes Pedersen. Milan, at age 24, has quickly established himself as one of the fastest pure sprinters in the world alongside Jasper Philipsen and Tim Merlier.
“It is not a unmarried resolution via me. We’re a large staff now, and we’ve numerous giant riders, and the staff have giant objectives in all of the Grand Excursions,” stated Pedersen.
“The process the Excursion suits Johnny [Milan] in reality smartly. For me, he is probably the most absolute best sprinters on this planet, if no longer the most productive sprinter and naturally, he must move to the Excursion with that quantity of Dash phases.
“It was not an easy decision because, of course, I would like to go to the Tour and fight for green. But I also see the point that we can win, as a team, a lot of stages in the Tour with Johnny, and I think that’s the right decision it’s a lot easier to win, dream scenario, three, four stages with him than it is with me.”
Pedersen began his first Grand Excursion on the Giro in 2017. He’s going to chase phases and check out to shield the issues jersey Milan gained in 2024 sooner than going to just his 2nd Vuelta later in the summertime. At his first Spanish Grand Excursion, he gained 3 phases and the fairway jersey.
“I always like the Giro. My first and second Grand Tour was there. It’s hard racing, maybe a bit too shit weather sometimes. But that’s not the fault of the race. It’s more, you know, the timing of the year,” stated Pedersen.
“But I do really like the Giro and we come with big ambitions to win as many stages as possible, and also the points jersey. Jonny did superb in 2024 and I will, of course, try to do the same as him in 2025.”
