In the space of 18 months, Mads Pedersen has gone from someone who, if you believe the narrative, was fortunate to become a world champion at 23, to now being a stage winner in all three Grand Tours and comfortably placed among the best bike riders on the planet.

“To be honest,” he says, a smile forming, “I could stop tomorrow, sit down and say I am pretty fucking happy with what I’ve done already. But” – and there’s always a but for insatiable athletes like Pedersen – “if I just win one Monument, I can tick that off and stop. That would make me happy.”

The Dane has come close: second on debut at the Tour of Flanders, and third and eighth since; fourth at Paris-Roubaix; and twice he has finished sixth at Milan-Sanremo. But the Lidl-Trek man hasn’t quite found a way to the top step just yet. “If I look at my cycling career, it’s just the one thing that’s missing. Flanders is a really tough race, and I think it’s a race that really suits me the most. My dream would, of course, be to win Paris-Roubaix, but if it ends up being Sanremo and not Roubaix, I would still be pretty proud.”

This article was published in Rouleur in December 2023. The full article can be read here.