The exchange happened at Lidl-Trek’s end-of-season team gathering in Germany, during an initiation ritual for the squad’s new signings. Álvarez, who turns professional with the WorldTour team in January 2027, picked Pedersen as a target.

“Héctor, being as cocky as he is, which is also pretty funny, says: ‘Mads, you’re not winning a Monument this year unless I’m on the team,’” Pedersen said on his Danish-language podcast Lang Distance, as relayed by Domestique Cycling.

Pedersen’s reply, as he recounted it, was to make the teenager down a Jägermeister as a penalty for his cheek. Álvarez then turned to another new signing, Filippo Ganna, and teased the Italian about his own race calendar, asking whether he was targeting Tre Valli Varesine or the Coppa Bernocchi next season, both minor one-day races that sit well below Monument status. That line, Pedersen said, cost Álvarez a second round of Jägermeister.

A teenager with a loaded CV

Álvarez is not the usual nervous first-year pro. The Spaniard closed his final under-23 season with the European road race title in Slovenia on 2 October, soloing clear for the win on the Šenčur finishing circuit.

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Days earlier at the Montreal World Championships, he had taken silver in the under-23 road race behind the United States’ Ashlin Barry and bronze in the time trial, where he finished 11.88 seconds behind winner Ryan Gal. He also won the under-23 Paris-Tours and finished fifth at the under-23 Paris-Roubaix.

Lidl-Trek confirmed his promotion to the WorldTour squad on 1 July on a deal running through 2028, with the Classics flagged as his long-term target.

A crowded 2027 locker room

The teasing lands in a Lidl-Trek dressing room that is already one of the most stacked in the sport. For 2027 the American outfit will field grand-tour cards in Juan Ayuso, Mattias Skjelmose, Felix Gall and Derek Gee-West, alongside sprinter Jonathan Milan, Italian time-trial specialist Filippo Ganna and Pedersen himself as Classics leader.

Head of performance Josu Larrazabal told Domestique Cycling that the squad’s depth will force selections nobody will like.

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“Managing egos requires direct, clear communication. We are going to have to make decisions that will not always please everyone,” he said.

Álvarez will join Albert Philipsen and Jakob Söderqvist as Classics riders expected to work for Pedersen in the cobbled races.

The WorldTour calendar opens with the Tour Down Under in Adelaide on 20 January 2027, and the Classics campaign Álvarez has been promising to disrupt begins with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Belgium on 27 February.

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