Lidl-Trek made a surprising and welcome announcement that Mads Pedersen, who broke his wrist in his first race day of 2026, will come back from the injury in Milan-San Remo this weekend. The decision comes just three days after the team all but ruled out his presence in the Monument.
The team will be relieved to have the Classics star on the line after Jonathan Milan was forced to withdraw due to illness. Pedersen has competed in Milan-San Remo four times, finishing in the top 10 each time.
The 30-year-old was expected to target the opening Monument again in 2026, but crashed during stage 1 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, fracturing his right collarbone and left wrist. He underwent surgery to fix the fractures and was quickly back on the indoor trainer. Within three weeks, he was with the team for a training camp in Mallorca, but doctors still expected a 12-week recovery.
However, Pedersen's rehabilitation has "progressed more quickly than anticipated", according to the team.
The team's Head of Rider Welfare, Dr Jens Hinder, said, "With fractures, the central challenge is always timing: mobilise too early and you risk the repair, but immobilise the joint for four weeks and you then face a further two to three weeks rebuilding range of motion.
"We took a carefully managed approach, introducing gentle wrist loading early — beginning on the rollers in Mallorca, then progressing to a gravel bike with adapted handlebars – always within strict parameters to ensure there was no risk to the fracture site.
"Mads' attitude throughout made a real difference; his positive mindset was a genuine factor in both the healing and rehabilitation process. All medical checks confirm he is ready to race."
Pedersen was convinced he was ready to race after logging some "strong training sessions" over the past few days.
"Honestly, the plan was not to race Sanremo, but we have done some really good training and we wanted to see specific numbers to be able to have a chance to make a good result in this race as well," Pedersen said.
"After a few hard trainings this week, we believe that it is a good decision to race again, pin the numbers on, and get comfortable in a race again. Of course, the doctors and my coach also had a say in how and when I could make it back. Dr. Jens did a lot of examinations with me and my hand and he is 100 percent confident that I am able to race again already — so it's pretty nice to be back already. It's really nice to be able to be at this point and start here in Italy. It's a good starting point ahead of the Belgian Classics too."
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