Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) has been compelled to desert his first race of the season after affected by gastrointestinal issues on the opening stage of the Etoile de Bessèges.
The Dane began the five-day French stage race because the defending champion and was seeking to get off to a flying begin in 2025 forward of the Classics season.
His subject began on the opening stage in Bellegarde, which ran on the identical parcours he gained on in 2022, when gastrointestinal bother noticed him end 129th and 1:43 down on stage winner Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep).
Pedersen hoped to recuperate on the second day and compete within the predicted dash end, nonetheless, he was once more absent within the remaining and completed 141st, 6:03 down on the leaders. With that in thoughts, the previous world champion hasn’t taken the beginning of stage 3 and is heading house to recuperate for his subsequent race.
“Following his gastrointestinal bother on Stage 1, Mads is not going to take to the beginning of as we speak’s Stage 3 of Etoile de Bességes,” learn a social media put up from Lidl-Trek on Friday morning. “He will as an alternative journey house to recuperate and put together for subsequent week’s Tour de La Provence.”
After his departure, Lidl-Trek are left with no chief however nonetheless have Alex Kirsch and Ryan Gibbons to contest the sprints and Julien Bernard as an choice for the hills.
The Tour de la Provence begins on February 14 so Pedersen could have per week to recuperate. He will once more begin because the defending champion after his success within the south of France final season.
From there, his subsequent race will likely be at Paris-Nice earlier than the one-day Classics come thick and quick, beginning at Milan-San Remo on March 22, the place he was fourth final yr.
The Dane will once more be in search of his first-ever Monument triumph in 2025, with Paris-Roubaix well-documented as his dream race to win. He gained the Hell of the North at junior stage again in 2013 and completed fourth and third within the final two respective editions.
