Mads Pedersen definitely on the up but his sprint is ‘the part missing from the injury’ ahead of Tour of Flanders

However, broken wrist or not, it’s clear that Pedersen is in promising and improving form ahead of Sunday’s big race, and indeed Paris-Roubaix in a week and a half’s time.

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In Dwars door Vlaanderen, Lidl-Trek took the race on early, with the pace so high that there was never an early breakaway, and Pedersen then stuck with the main group in the finale, sprinting to 10th as a perfectly-timed effort from Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) won the race in front of Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).

“It was a good day, a good day of racing. We wanted a long and hard day of racing, and that’s what we got,” he told the media at the finish. “Of course, it would have been nicer to have the feeling that the bike didn’t have a chain, but it was decent today.

“We had a good plan, and we executed it quite well, but the peloton is so strong nowadays, so we knew it would be a gamble to race that early and open up the race that early after 70ks, but yeah, I think it was a good plan.

“In the end, maybe we burned a few too many matches, but it is what it is. We gambled today, it didn’t pay off 100 per cent, but it is what it is.”

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Tenth in a fairly large sprint is probably not the top of Pedersen’s abilities, and this punch or acceleration is the part that he is still struggling with post-injury.

“In the end, I also didn’t have the legs to do a proper sprint. I know that’s also the part missing from the injury, the sprinting part,” he said.

“The spike I knew I was missing, it’s not easy with a broken wrist for six weeks, it’s mostly seated training, so we knew that was missing.”

Three races in, Pedersen hasn’t been afflicted by any lingering injury issues, with only a minor cold keeping him out of In Flanders Fields, though the team confirmed that he wasn’t “that ill” and it’s unlikely to affect him going forward.

Missing some of that top level, it may be hard for Pedersen to replicate last year’s runner-up spot on Sunday, and while the Dane and his team have been positive about his return to racing, he was also keen not to be too bullish on Wednesday. “I won’t stand here and tell you I will be good enough, I don’t know,” he said. “I will give a way better answer after the race on Sunday.”