Mads Pedersen will be back to lead the line for Lidl-Trek at the Tour de France in 2026 after a year of compromise. Jonathan Milan, winner of the points classification at the 2025 Tour, is heading to the Giro d'Italia.
Speaking to the media at the team’s December training camp media day in Dénia, Spain, Pedersen explained that a reciprocal agreement had been reached for him to step aside in 2025 to give Milan his chance, on the condition that the Danish former world champion return to the Tour in 2026.
Milan certainly seized his opportunity in July, claiming two stage wins on his way to the green jersey. Meanwhile Pedersen raced the Giro d’Italia in May, winning four stages and the points classification before heading to La Vuelta a España and taking away a stage win and the points jersey once more.
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Pedersen won two stages of the Tour de France in 2022 and 2023 and has been clear that the green jersey is his next big goal at the French Grand Tour. He came closest in 2023, when he was runner-up to Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuncinck).
“It’s been a big wish of mine for many years to win the Green Jersey. Trying to do that with Jonny is not easy,” Pedersen told members of the press including Cyclingnews on Friday.
“Last year it was a smart decision to bring Jonny to the Tour and send me to the Giro. Now it’s his turn to compromise.”
This time, Lidl-Trek have the added consideration of Juan Ayuso, who broke his contract with UAE Team Emirates-XRG over the winter to become the German team’s top general classification leader. The 21-year-old Spaniard will also head to the Tour in 2026 and has stated an aim to reach the podium in Paris.
“We also have Ayuso now,” Pedersen added. “Last year I accepted not going to the Tour. Now he [Milan] accepts that he’s not going and does something else. That’s how a big team works.”
In pursuit of a monument
Despite a glittering palmarès that includes a world championship win from 2018, eleven Grand Tour stages and three victories at Gent-Wevelgem, Pedersen has always asserted that his career will not feel complete without a win in a Monument Classic. That, once again, will be the main thrust of his early 2026 season.
The problem for Pedersen, is that his star has risen in an era of super-talents such as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who between them collected all five major one-day races in 2025.
However, despite their dominance, Pedersen still believes that he can beat the two best Classics riders of this generation on his best day.
“I’m fully aware that these guys have bigger talent and are better riders than me. But on specific days, I believe it’s possible to beat them. I’ve shown it before,” Pedersen says referring to his bettering of Van der Poel at the Tour of Flanders in 2025 where he finished second behind Pogačar.
“Of course it’s easy to sit here afterwards and say if and if and if. But every time I’m on the start line with these guys, I’m there because I believe I can beat them. If I didn’t believe that, I should do something else.”
“Especially in Roubaix. That’s my dream race. That’s why I’m hired by this team, to try to win these races. If I didn’t believe I could win, why should my team believe I could win either?”
