Only a week on from getting caught in a mass crash at the Dwars door Vlaanderen, Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) enters the final race of cobbled Classics season at Paris-Roubaix standing above the rest as the man primed to take the fight to Mathieu van der Poel and Jasper Philipsen.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck duo, who scored a one-two finish at the Velodrome André-Pétrieux last year, are overwhelming favourites to do so again in a peloton shorn of several top contenders, namely Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike).
However, former World Champion Pedersen, who earlier this spring said he's in the best form of his career, will take the start in Compiègne, and he's feeling good ahead of Sunday.
"Short answer, yes," he said when asked if he's currently in the best position of his career to score a Monument victory. "The shape is good, and we have a strong team. The material is good, everything is good, so I believe so, yes.
"It's almost a week ago now," he said of the crash which saw big names Van Aert, Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty) and Lidl-Trek teammate Jasper Stuyven all call an end to their spring.
"So, the body is ready for the next. The shape is pretty much the same as before. Of course, the body is less so because of the crash. The wounds are also getting better so on that note it's of course a bit better but the shape should be the same."
Pedersen will be without Stuyven, who placed second at the E3 Saxo Classic, and Alex Kirsch, another caught in the Dwars crash. However, he'll still enjoy team support from the likes of Jonathan Milan, Tim Declercq and Edward Theuns.
In the course of Van der Poel's four race days so far this spring, Pedersen remains the only man to prevent the Dutchman from celebrating at the finish, having beaten him at Gent-Wevelgem (Van der Poel helped Philipsen to the win at Milan-San Remo, of course).
"We still have a strong team, so we believe in that, and we keep believing in the same race philosophy that we had in the past races," Pedersen said of his squad.
"We're missing Jasper, Alex and so on, but it's a part of racing also. The substitutes are really strong as well so we're still a really strong team."
Pedersen wouldn't be drawn on any strategic plans ahead of the race, as is usually the case before a day as unpredictable as Paris-Roubaix. Instead, he said that he's just aiming to get to Roubaix among the lead group.
"It's a completely different race than Flanders so this will be a different approach," he said. "The main goal would be to make it to the velodrome with the first guys, and then fight for the win. Don't leave it too early.
"To prefer this, and this, and this, and this... it's all dream scenarios. My dream scenario would be to finish alone with two minutes. No stress. I can even puncture in the last 20km, but it's not going to happen. So, it's really hard to tell you exactly what the nicest thing would be."
The Arenberg chicane and rider safety
Aside from the widely asked question 'how to stop Mathieu van der Poel?', the major topic of discussion ahead of the weekend centred on the newly-added, makeshift chicane at the entry to sector 20, the Trouée d'Arenberg.
The sharp bend, based on a median in the road on a junction immediately before the start of the five-star sector, has been added to ensure the charging peloton is slowed before hitting the cobbles. Hopefully, the new measure will prevent brutal crashes at 60-70 kph as riders zoom into the forest.
"It is what it is," was Pedersen's response to the new chicane.
"They took the decision with only asking a few riders and not everyone and now it's there and now we have to deal with it. We can't change it anyway and now we just have to take this little corner before Arenberg."
This statement comes in opposition to what Adam Hansen, the president of the CPA rider's union, said. The Australian has told Cyclingnews and Cycling Weekly that all riders were consulted via team representatives, noting that the majority approved of a change to the course to improve rider safety.
When asked whether the chicane would actually do so, Pedersen said that he had "no idea", adding that he could only give a real answer after having raced it among the peloton.
"To be honest, I have no idea. We never did anything like that. We know it's an important run-in. Let's see on Sunday," he said. "If we talk after I can give you a better answer but right now, I don't know to be honest and it's also nothing that's in my head.
"Of course, I want to be in this corner first because it's clearly important to be there before the forest. So that's just my main goal and then concerns about crashes and so on we can talk about after the race when we see how it went."
The addition of the Arenberg chicane has come after years of scary crashes on the cobbles there. It also comes amid renewed concerns about rider safety in the wake of several recent mass crashes – at Dwars door Vlaanderen and then again on Thursday at Itzulia Basque Country.
Pedersen, who was forced out of the race by the crash at Dwars, said that he's keeping a neutral stance in his public statements on the issue of rider safety, preferring instead for the discussions to remain among riders and organisers rather than making his case via the press.
"I've got to be honest; I want to stay quite neutral in this because some of this stuff is above my pay grade," he said. "I don't think we have to discuss this with you guys.
"That's something we have to discuss [amongst ourselves] and with the organisers and so on. So I don't want to sit here and throw stones when I don't have a clear solution so it's better to be neutral."
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