Mads Pedersen 'needs time' as Lidl-Trek hold out hope for Tour of Flanders

Less than 24 hours after their Spring Classics campaign took a major setback, Lidl-Trek were back on the road and reconning the route ahead of Sunday’s Tour of Flanders. Six riders, including Classics specialists Toms Skujiņš and Tim Declercq, limbered aboard the team bus at around 9:30am local time and made the short journey from the team’s current base in Brugge to the outskirts of Oudenaarde and the summit of the legendary Oude Kwaremont.

Read more: The top 10 cycling climbs in Flanders

Only six riders, because Mads Pedersen was left behind at the team hotel to speed up his recovery after a horrendous crash at Dwars door Vlaanderen that also left Lidl-Trek’s Alex Kirsch and Jasper Stuyven out of Flanders and requiring surgery.

In a sense, Pedersen was lucky to avoid the same fate given the speed of the crash and the severity of the injuries inflicted on many riders, including Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), who was diagnosed with a broken collarbone and several broken ribs that have ruled him out of the entire spring and put his May appointment at the Giro d’Italia under serious jeopardy.

"Mads Pedersen was the luckiest of our riders in the crash and escaped with just abrasions and contusions. The plan remains that he will race on Sunday but he will continue to be monitored by the team. We will provide an update if anything changes,” the team said on Sunday evening.

At the side of the road on the outskirts of Oudenaarde the team remained focused on Sunday but it was clear that the situation needed a day-by-day approach, with Pedersen expected to be back on the saddle on Friday.

"We need a bit of time, and he needs a bit of time and then we’ll see," sports director Gregory Rast told GCN and Het Nieuwsblad.

"When you crash at 70-75 kph it’s not comfortable to ride. He’ll try to ride tomorrow. He has a lot of scratches of course and he’s bruised up, that’s how it is."

© GCN

Lidl-Trek head out for their Flanders recon on Thursday, without Pedersen

On Wednesday evening, there had been a debate among journalists as to whether the section before the approach to the Kanarieberg, where the crash took place, should have been part of the parcours in the first place. The climb, after all, has been removed from the Tour of Flanders route due to concerns over the safety of the approach.

Rast took a sensible and diplomatic tone when asked about the topic but he indicated that the race organisers might address the notion of a route change ahead of next year’s encounter.

"I don’t want to make any complaints to the organiser. Yesterday you asked me that question already because we knew two months ago that we would go down this road. Then you’d say it was our mistake because we didn’t complain about it two months ago," he said.

"I don’t blame the riders either. It’s unfortunate and it’s done. I’m sure they won’t do it anymore though after yesterday. We need to look forward. We lost Kirsch and Jasper, and with Mads we see about on Sunday."