{"id":104695,"date":"2025-08-31T09:27:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T09:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/104695\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T09:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T09:27:11","slug":"i-hope-the-next-six-months-will-be-very-interesting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/104695\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI hope the next six months will be very interesting\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lidl-Trek<\/a> keeps strengthening its already powerful roster, and they\u2019re making no concessions along the way. Big names like Jasper Stuyven and Daan Hoole sensed their roles would shrink in 2026 and decided to leave, but in return, a new Classics block is being built around Mads Pedersen<\/a>. And the core of that squad might not even come from the transfer market, the key support could already be in-house.<\/p>\n

S\u00f8ren Kragh Andersen joined Lidl-Trek after the 2024 season, moving from Alpecin-Deceuninck. It was a sporting decision: at Alpecin, the Classics leadership roles were firmly held by Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen. On top of that, crashes and physical setbacks meant Kragh Andersen never quite hit top form in the chances he did get across 2023 and 2024. His only major win in that period was Eschborn\u2013Frankfurt in 2023.<\/p>\n

That stood in stark contrast with the results he had in his seven seasons with what is now Picnic\u2013PostNL. In those years, the Dane won a stage in the Tour de Suisse, Paris\u2013Tours, two Tour de France stages in 2020, and also found success at the BinckBank Tour and in Oman. Yet strangely, in the spring Classics, it never fully clicked. That\u2019s exactly what needs to change at Lidl-Trek.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"soren<\/p>\n

S\u00f8ren Kragh Andersen in his time at DSM (now Picnic PostNL)<\/p>\n

Kragh Andersen already had much to endure in a year and a half at Lidl-Trek<\/p>\n

In 2024, a knee injury left S\u00f8ren Kragh Andersen with an anonymous spring campaign, and in his debut Tour de France for Lidl-Trek, he was battered physically and finished outside the time limit on stage 12. 2025 was supposed to be better, but it began with saddle sores that wiped out his Classics, and just as he looked to be finding his level again at the Giro d\u2019Italia, he crashed on stage 4 and broke his wrist.<\/p>\n

After his return, however, Kragh Andersen promptly became Danish road champion in June, giving him much greater visibility back home while wearing the champion\u2019s jersey at the Tour of Denmark. Mads Pedersen called the shots there, but Kragh Andersen also showed excellent form. He carried that shape into the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>, where he has mostly taken on a supporting role. Lidl-Trek\u2019s ambitions are clear: stage wins with Pedersen in green, and Giulio Ciccone as their climber.<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"sorenPedersen and Kragh Andersen two friends on the same team<\/p>\n

The Vuelta remains an important race for Kragh Andersen, especially given the recent transfer market moves. With Stuyven gone and Hoole likely leaving, new space is opening up.
\n\u201cI hope to play a bigger role in Mads\u2019s sprint train, but we haven\u2019t talked about it in detail yet. It\u2019s not something I\u2019ve discussed with the team, but I\u2019m working with Mads now and I hope to keep doing so,\u201d he told IDLProCycling.com. \u00a0<\/p>\n

For Kragh Andersen, that partnership has extra meaning: he and Pedersen have been close friends since they were very young. That bond was undoubtedly one of the reasons Kragh Andersen chose Lidl-Trek in 2024. Two friends, racing together.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s really fun, truly a dream. Mads is at the peak of his career, so I feel grateful to be part of his story. But Lidl-Trek is also growing, and I\u2019m enjoying the good atmosphere and big ambitions here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo<\/p>\n

\"mads-pedersen\"\/Kragh Andersen has big ambitions for 2026<\/p>\n

Big ambitions indeed\u2026 Since Lidl joined as title sponsor, Lidl-Trek has made major strides, with Mads Pedersen as the clearest proof. The Dane has developed at an incredible pace, winning Classics, taking stages in grand tours, and even climbing alongside the pure mountain specialists.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t live with Mads every day, so I don\u2019t know the big secret. But from what I see, it\u2019s his mentality and mindset that make the difference,\u201d said S\u00f8ren Kragh Andersen.<\/p>\n

And in that ambitious environment, Pedersen\u2019s close friend wants to make big steps of his own. If he can stay injury-free, the \u201cold\u201d Kragh Andersen should be back quickly.
\n\u201cI hope to take steps forward next month and get a win, but this current training block is also very important for the spring of 2026. That\u2019s already in my head.\u201d Because in next year\u2019s Classics, the two Danish teammates will be side by side, taking on Van der Poel and the rest.
\n\u201cI hope the next six months will be very interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lidl-Trek keeps strengthening its already powerful roster, and they\u2019re making no concessions along the way. Big names like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-104695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}