Pedersen punches to second in Besseges whilst Consonni sprints in Valenciana for third
Lidl-Trek’s nascent 2024 campaign continued its solid start with another two podium finishes for fast men Pedersen and Consonni.
Pedersen, who tasted his first competition of the season today in France at the Etoile de Besseges, rounded off a faultless team performance with second place after an uphill slog to the line. The Dane looked poised to take victory until Axel Laurance (Alpecin – Deceuninck) launched an impressive sprint with 175 meters to the line. Pedersen fought to the line but was unable to slip ahead, conceding to the Frenchman in the early-season duel.
Speaking after the finish, Mads Pedersen said: “I’m pretty happy with today, of course it would have been nice to start with a win, But we can take lots of positives from today – the boys rode perfectly as a team, and a podium in the debut is not too bad. We are Looking ahead to tomorrow for another chance, we keep fighting to get a win here in besseges. But it’s definitely good to be back with numbers on!”
Pedersen on his 2024 debut
Over at the Volta a la Communitat Valenciana, new Lidl-Trek arrival Simone Consonni also nabbed his first podium finish of the season. Compatriot Jonathan Milan was Lidl-Trek’s chosen man at the start of the day, however an untimely puncture on the final ascent put an end to his ambitions for the day. When the message came through, Consonni was quick to adapt, knowing what he had to do. Whilst Matej Mohoric (Bahrain Victorious) was able to slip away on the technical run-in to the finish, Consonni sprinted from the chasing bunch to round off the podium.
Giving his take on the day, Simone Consonni said: “A podium finish is of course good for me, it gives me a lot of motivation. I finished the stage in front with the GC riders and a few others. I showed that I could be there until the end in a complicated stage like today. It’s a good sign and that’s what I wanted to show to my new team and the role they gave me. Mohoric made a great move, it was expected. Without Johnny’s puncture, we would have done the impossible to close the gap and I don’t know how it would have ended… But thinking too much on’if’ and ‘but’ is not helpful in this situation. Congratulations to Mohoric, let’s move on. We’re already thinking about the opportunity we’ll have tomorrow. We are riding all together to put Johnny in the best condition to sprint and tomorrow we are ready to turn today’s regret into motivation. All the conditions are there to crown the debut in the best possible way.”
