"I don’t say he would beat Pogi, but he would have been there" - Skjelmose's Lidl-Trek on Ayuso and unlucky season
Cycling
Mattias Skjelmose is in China this week where he had started the Tour of Guangxi, but abandoned with back pain as he had previously announced before the race. At the race, manager Kim Andersen talked about the setbacks the Dane experienced this year and how it turned it into a difficult season despite beating Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel at Amstel Gold Race.
"It could have been a fabulous season. He had a stupid crash at Flèche Wallonne, where he had the feeling that was his best day of the year. I don’t say he would beat Pogi, but he would have been there and then he would also have been better in Liège."
The Dane was en route for a podium at Paris-Nice until he crashed on the penultimate stage, and the crash at Flèche ruined the final days of his spring. Then, he was ill and in doubt for the Tour de France, which he then began but also had to abandon.
"I believe he could have been in a very high place. I don’t say he would have beaten Lipowitz but last year in the Vuelta, he beat him by two minutes". After the Tour the situation stabilized and he finally managed to train consistently and reach form that led him to finish fourth at the World Championships and seventh at the European Championships, but at Il Lombardia his back issues restarted. There is a separate story on how the stories don't align within Lidl-Trek regarding his participation in the Chinese race whilst he was already experiencing back pain.
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Juan Ayuso
Andersen also calmed down the expectations that there could be an internal dispute with Juan Ayuso, after Skjelmose's words of not having been told by the team but also that it doesn't align with what had been promised to him - full focus, in particular at the 2026 Giro d'Italia.
"We already had a second GC leader, but Tao was not on the level we expected, so it’s not that Ayuso and Mattias will be in competition," he added. With Giulio Ciccone also apparently giving up on Grand Tour ambitions, then effectively there are only two Grand Tour cards to play in the team. "They will talk and learn. Until now they have been competitors, so the first reaction is maybe like this, but it’s about the development of Lidl-Trek as a team."
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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