Mats Pedersen was unable to compete in stage 6 of the Tour de Pollogne after crashing in the Katowice finale on Friday. The Lidl-Trek rider will return to competition promptly at the Tour of Deutschland, which opens on Wednesday.

“After yesterday's crash at @tourdepologne, the team and I decided to abandon the race,” Pedersen posted on social media Saturday morning. 'It will take me a few more days to recover before the @deutschlanddeinetour starts next week.'

Pedersen crashed with just over 3km to go on stage 5 to Katowice, allowing Tim Mellier (Soudal-Quick Step) to win in a group sprint. Caleb Yuan (Jayco Alura) and Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorius) were also involved in the same crash as Pedersen.

Pedersen was able to rejoin the race and cross the finish line, but Ridltrek announced Saturday morning that he had abandoned the Tour de Pollogne to aid his recovery for the Deutschland Tour.

Pedersen had a strong spring classics season, winning Ghent-Wevelgem ahead of Mathieu van der Pol and finishing third in Paris-Roubaix, but has had some bad luck this season.

In March, he was involved in a group crash at the Doire d'Or-Flanderen, and at the Tour de France, he was forced to abandon the race at the end of the opening week after crashing on stage 5 in Saint-Vulva.

Pedersen returned for the 2024 Paris Olympics road race, finishing 20th, and is expected to be one of the main contenders for the European Championships road race in Hasselt on September 15.