Currently leading the Tour de France sprints classification, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) has revealed he plans to end his professional career after the 2029 Road World Championships in Copenhagen.
The Dane won the world title in Yorkshire in 2019, and sees his home world championships as a natural final curtain of his career, so that he can focus on his personal and family life.
"That's when I would like to stop cycling. There is no reason to sit around and hide it," Pedersen revealed while speaking on the Danish TV2 post-race show AftenTour on Wednesday evening.
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"It'd be a special place to end a career. The plan is that the World Championships in Copenhagen are where I would like to stop cycling.
"People will still sit and write that it's sad for me to stop after the World Championships in Copenhagen on Danish soil but it would be completely crazy for me, and I hope it would be a huge party."
Pedersen turned professional with the Danish ProTeam Cult Energy Pro Cycling in 2015. He joined Trek-Segafredo in 2017 and has stayed with the set-up as it transformed into Lidl-Trek. He agreed a 'lifetime' contract with Lidl-Trek and is expected to see out his career with the team.
Pedersen's 2019 world title was a turning point in his career and he has developed into one of the best Classics riders in the peloton. He has 61 victories on his palmarès and is the favourite to win the Tour de France green jersey. He has already won the stage to Foix.
Pedersen will turn 31 in December and so will be 33, nearly 34, when the 2029 World Championships are held in Copenhagen. He is still hungry for success but is aware he cannot race for ever.
"Everything comes to an end, and for me, that is the day I can no longer fight for victories," Pedersen said.
"Then I no longer belong in the peloton. To transform myself from a team leader into someone who always has to help, that is very difficult for me.
"This doesn’t mean I have already made plans for after my retirement. I am still in that cycling bubble. For now it’s all about the green jersey. And in the coming years, I will continue hunting for that missing victory in a Monumental classic. And when I have won one Monument, I'll want another one.
Pedersen revealed that he has seen other riders race too long and witnessed the impact it has had on their personal lives.
"It takes its toll on the body," Pedersen said of the intense pro racing lifestyle.
"I also have a wife at home, and at some point we want to start a family. We are reaching an age where that is going to happen.
"I have had teammates who have faced problems in their family life, perhaps because they were not often at home. It hurt me to see that at the time, and I do not want to end up in the same situation.
"I would prefer to end my career a little earlier and start a family, because life is long."
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