Mads Pedersen extends contract

Mads Pedersen, the reigning road World Champion, has signed a two-year contract extension with Trek-Segafredo and will continue to represent the US-registered team throughout the end of the 2022 season.

The new agreement sees the 24-year-old Dane commit to a six-year tenure at Trek-Segafredo, where he has been honing his skills as a professional cyclist since 2017. The support and belief showed to him by Trek-Segafredo management since the very beginning was a key factor that led Pedersen to commit to the extension:

“Luca (Guercilena) really believed in me three years ago when I first signed with the team. In fact, even in the previous year before that, when I was in a bit of trouble with Cult (Energy Pro Cycling) and Stölting he had already showed great confidence in me when he told me I would have a contract if the team closed. That team continued for one more year so I stayed with them but I was really happy that Luca gave me the confidence already back then. It was a huge factor in re-signing with the team now.”

General Manager, Luca Guercilena, shared the excitement of the deal:

“It’s very important for us to have the opportunity to work with Mads for another couple of seasons. Having discovered him when he was a young talent and developing him into a World Champion has been hard but deeply rewarding work and I believe this gives us the confidence in a bright future.

“He is a winner and has a winning instinct and I firmly believe is on his way to be successful at the classics. Last season he had a hard time, but I trust that after the win at the Worlds, he will be more confident in his abilities, and I believe he will obtain great results during the upcoming seasons.”

In his first year in Trek-Segafredo colors, Pedersen won the Elite Danish National Championship title and the PostNord Danmark Rundt (Tour of Denmark), his first professional general classification win.

In 2018, Pedersen took an impressive runner-up placing in the Tour of Flanders, cementing his classics pedigree, and in 2019, after an underwhelming start of the season, he became the first Dane to win the men’s World Championship road race title in Yorkshire.

To date, Pedersen counts 12 professional wins in his palmares and is hungry to add more victories to that tally.

“I want to keep winning races. I want to be more consistent and more on the top level in the classics, not just the big races but in all the races, instead of popping up occasionally. That’s my main goal right now and then, of course, to honor and show respect for the rainbow stripes,” explained Pedersen

As well as being a key rider in Trek-Segafredo’s classics squad, Pedersen’s versatility has seen him take wins in time-trials and play an important part in the team’s sprint lead-out trains. Recently the Dane made his 2020 debut in the rainbow stripes in Australia, where he played a vital support role to Richie Porte, helping the Australian seize the overall title in the Tour Down Under.

Pedersen is looking forward to continuing his development over the coming years in a team that, in his own words, feels like one big family: “In this team, you’re definitely joining a big family. The first year was super nice and everyone took really good care of me. I really enjoyed being here and the next year I re-signed immediately because I was so happy to be on the team.

“I like that it’s such an international team so with so many different people and everyone is working for the same goal and working really well together. It’s enjoyable every time you have to go for a race or even training camps,” said Pedersen.

In 2020 the classics will, once again, be one of the biggest goals of the season for Mads Pedersen, and the Dane is also scheduled to make his Tour de France debut.