"His presence forces us to take a different approach" - Mattias Skjelmose confident in Trek but admits that chances are low against Pogacar

Mattias Skjelmose has just came off of a second place at Flèche Wallone which puts him just below the position of big favourites Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel. Ahead of La Doyenne he expresses a lot of confidence on Trek - Segafredo but also a dose of realism.

“His (Tadej Pogacar, ed.) presence forces us to take a different approach. If you want to get him into trouble, for example, we will have to get up front early and act on time. I expect many riders will try to go early," Skjelmose said in a press release. “It would be nice to get another bold result. A new top 10 would be nice, but why not dream of the biggest and aim for the podium. As I said before, we always race to win, but we have to be realistic. With Pogacar, but also with Evenepoel at the start, a podium finish means a lot.”

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Skjelmose has been very consistent throughout the spring and has won stages at the Etoile de Bessèges and Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var. Illness at Paris-Nice cut him short of his goals, but he quickly bounced back, finishing third at the hilly GP Miguel Indurain, sixth at Itzulia Basque Country and eighth at Amstel Gold Race before Flèche. At Amstel he missed the key move, but was one of the few riders from behind who jumped across to fight for the top places.

His form his very good at the moment and he proved that at the Mur de Huy. A climber with explosivity and a good sprint, Liège-Bastogne-Liège should suit him quite well. “We also have other strong riders, besides Ciccone and me, such as Bauke Mollema and Juan Pedro López. They have different options and can offer different scenarios. With all due respect, I don't see any other teams that can express such collective power as ours," he continued.

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Whilst Bauke Mollema has been looking good, the team has a very strong second card in co-leader Giulio Ciccone who raced to fifth at Fléche Wallone under the radar. However the Italian is a very similar rider and both could do some damage in the explosive climbs of the Ardennes.

"From what we've seen, Pogacar's only weak point is when he gets too excited and forgets to eat," he jokes. "Jumbo-Visma was able to exploit this weakness last year (at the Tour de France, ed.), but I don't think it will make the same mistake again. So unfortunately I don't see any weaknesses for now. Evenepoel has not raced for a while and comes straight from an altitude training. He will be strong, no doubt about it, but we don't know how strong yet," Skjelmose concluded.

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Prize Money Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2023 Men - €20.000 on offer for the winner