“Mads is much more involved. He brings me and everyone around him into his project, and into his thinking on planning and training. Whereas Van der Poel, of course, needed us, but only on race day, and the rest of the time it mattered a bit less to him. He had his own setup,” began Soren Kragh Andersen.
Mathieu van der Poel has long had the reputation of being a rider for specific moments. He has never emptied himself across an entire calendar year. His targets have been few, major of course, but few. That’s not a negative, but it’s different from a rider like Mads Pedersen, who does focus on competing across three weeks at Grand Tours, for example. In 2025, he accumulated 74 race days, nearly double the amount of Van der Poel (41).
Mads Pedersen’s closeness
“Mads is a friend, both because we’ve known each other since we were kids and because of who he is here in the team. I don’t think there’s a single rider on the team who doesn’t see him as a friend, which makes him a bit different,” Andersen added about how close-knit he believes Mads Pedersen is with all his Lidl-Trek teammates.
Even so, Soren Kragh Andersen stressed his words were in no way a criticism of Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman simply has a different approach to racing. Beyond road cycling, he also does mountain bikes and cyclocross without his teammates, often creating a distance between Van der Poel and his colleagues. Meanwhile Pedersen is 100% involved with Lidl-Trek from the first training camp in December until the last after-season meet-up in October.
Mads Pedersen drew praise from teammate Soren Kragh Andersen