Mads Pedersen has warned new Danish national team boss, Michael Mørkøv, that he will have to carefully and strongly manage the team given all the egos involved.
Mørkøv was the best lead-out man in the world for many years and won gold on the track at the Olympics, Worlds and Europeans. He has just retired from his racing career, finishing with
Astana Qazaqstan Team working with Mark Cavendish.
He now takes over as the Danish national team coach, with no break after his racing days. And though Pedersen said he had every confidence in Mørkøv, he also suggested he goes into the new role with his eyes open.
Pedersen won an epic men's road race for Denmark at the UCI World Championships in Yorkshire in 2019 and is now part of a Danish group of riders with plenty of talent.
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They include Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Jakob Fuglsang (Israel-Premier Tech), Kasper Asgreen (EF Education-EasyPost), Mikkel Honoré (EF Education-EasyPost), Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), Søren Kragh Andersen (Lidl-Trek) and Mikkel Bjerg (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) among many others.
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"I think it will be good. Michael is a decent person, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he approaches it," Pedersen told Ekstra Bladet. "There are some big egos that come together on the national team. It takes a man to come up with a plan and put people in their place.
"Anders has managed to do that, and I definitely believe that Michael can do that too," Pedersen added of Anders Lund, who Mørkøv now replaces after Lund was head of the national team for nine years.
This year the Europeans take place on hilly terrain in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France in September while the Worlds are also being run on a climbers' course, at altitude in Rwanda, in October. Those races should offer the Danes a shot at medals, though Pedersen has ruled himself out.
"The European Championships and World Championships are out of the question for a rider like me. I'm really just going to be a fill-in for the national team for the next 12 months," he said.
"But if there are considerations about whether I should participate in some cycling races to help, we will of course look into it."
