Trek-Segafredo has announced that Danish champion Mads Pedersen, 22, has prolonged his contract through 2020. The talented Dane won five races in his first year with the team and had continued to show his promise this season, winning stage two in the Harold Sun Tour and, in the ongoing classics campaign, a fifth in Dwars door Vlaanderen followed by an outstanding second place in his first Ronde van Vlaanderen on Sunday.
“I am really thrilled to renew my contract with Trek-Segafredo,” said Pedersen. “I feel at home in this team; the confidence they have put in me has made me grow a lot and I am pretty sure that with Trek-Segafredo I am at the best spot to continue to develop and gain experience, especially in the classics.
“I was happy to win early this season in Australia to show I was on track for the spring, and obviously I am very proud of my results this week. It was a good way to start, but I am still young, and I still need some experience, so there’s more to come I hope. For now, I am focused on Paris-Roubaix, it’s my favourite race, and maybe in a few years I will be here looking for the win.”
Trek-Segafredo General Manager, Luca Guercilena: “When we signed Mads last year, we obviously knew that he had a lot of potential, which he has proved during his first season with us by winning five races. There is no doubt of his strength. Then, this year, he continued on that same line and took it even to a higher level, winning a stage in Australia and riding a very solid TT at the end of a tough Tirreno-Adriatico.
“To see him perform the way he did this week, and especially taking an absolutely incredible second place in the Ronde van Vlaanderen, exceeded all of our expectations. This is what we hoped for in a few years, and that he’s able to do this now, at the age of 22, predicts a very bright future – a future that we are happy to share with him!”
