Lidl-Trek Confirm Paris-Roubaix Squad: Pedersen Leads, Milan Makes Hell of the North Debut
Lidl-Trek have officially confirmed their seven-rider line-up for Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, with Mads Pedersen leading the team and Italian sprint sensation Jonathan Milan set to make his eagerly awaited Hell of the North debut. The American-backed squad will head to Compiègne with one of the most muscular line-ups in the peloton as they chase a first Paris-Roubaix victory in over a decade.
Pedersen, the 2019 world champion and a three-time Roubaix podium finisher, heads up the squad after his remarkable recovery from the wrist fracture sustained at Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in February. The Dane has been described as a 'miracle' by team insiders, returning to racing weeks ahead of schedule and finishing second at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday. A third-place finish in the 2023 edition of Roubaix remains his best result at the Queen of the Classics, and sports directors have long believed the race is the one missing monument on his palmarès best suited to his profile.
The biggest talking point of the squad announcement is the inclusion of Jonathan Milan, who will contest Paris-Roubaix for the first time in his career. The 25-year-old Italian, who joined Lidl-Trek at the start of the 2024 season, has spent much of his career as a pure bunch sprinter, but the Dutch-American squad have been grooming him for the cobbles throughout 2026 with a spring programme that has taken him through Gent-Wevelgem, Scheldeprijs and Milan-San Remo as a Classics apprenticeship.
"Jonathan is ready for the biggest test of his cobbled career," team principal Luca Guercilena told Belgian daily Het Nieuwsblad on Wednesday. "He has the physical profile to excel at Roubaix — the raw power on the flat, the ability to recover after sustained efforts, and a track pedigree that breeds the kind of bike handling you need on the pavé. We are not promising a podium on his debut, but we genuinely believe he can be an important factor in the finale."
Completing the line-up alongside Pedersen and Milan are Swedish cobbles specialist Jakob Söderqvist, Danish powerhouse Søren Kragh Andersen, Norwegian domestique Mathias Norsgaard, German engine Max Walscheid, and Czech classics rider Mathias Vacek. The seven-man squad leans heavily on physical strength and Northern European experience, with Walscheid's 96-kilogram frame expected to act as a battering ram through the middle cobbled sectors where early selections are made.
Notably absent is the familiar face of Jasper Stuyven, who after eleven seasons with the American squad joined Soudal-Quick-Step for 2026. The Belgian's departure has been described internally as the biggest loss of cobbled experience the team suffered over the winter, alongside the retirements of Edward Theuns and Julien Bernard, and Lidl-Trek have openly acknowledged they lost three experienced riders and replaced them with much younger talent.
The team's tactical plan is expected to revolve around protecting Pedersen through the opening cobbled sectors before Milan and Vacek take over domestique duties in the middle of the race. From the Trouée d'Arenberg onwards, Pedersen will be on his own as a GC-style leader, relying on his legs and the accumulated experience of nine previous starts at the Hell of the North. Milan, by contrast, is being encouraged to ride his own race behind if tactically possible and push for a top-20 debut result that could lay the groundwork for more ambitious future campaigns.
Lidl-Trek's last victory at Paris-Roubaix came with Fabian Cancellara in 2013 and 2010, back when the team was known as RadioShack and the Swiss superstar was at the peak of his powers. Thirteen years on, Pedersen represents the team's best chance since Cancellara to restore that legacy — and if Milan can announce himself as a genuine Roubaix contender in the process, Sunday afternoon at the velodrome could mark a defining moment for the squad's cobbled ambitions in the years ahead.