"I believe I can win the time trial" - Mattias Skjelmose beams with confidence ahead of final stage of Tour de Suisse

Mattias Skjelmose does not abandon his hopes of a podium at the 2024 Tour de Suisse. After the difficulties he had during the fifth stage, the Lidl–Trek rider managed to recover and finish the next two stages with the big favourites again. This sees him in the fourth spot overall with only the mountain time trial left to ride. However his position is not super nice with nearly a minute gap to third place Egan Bernal and only a tight advantage over strong youngster Matthew Riccitello (5th) and sixth Enric Mas.

"My legs weren't that great, but looking at the performance it was ok, it could have been much worse," he admitted after the stage. "I just did some damage control, but I think I did a good job. I don't care if I finish fourth or fifth in the standings, I believe I can win the time trial. I feel good and although today perhaps wasn't my best day, perhaps also due to the long transfer we made in the car this morning, I believe that tomorrow my legs will be much better and I am convinced that I can do something special."

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After that the Dane also spoke about his goals past the Swiss race, with great focus already on his major seasonal goal, the Vuelta a Espana 2024: "After the Tour de Suisse I will ride the national championships, both road and time trial, then the road race in Paris and then I won't race again until the Vuelta, I'll just do a lot of altitude training."

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