"I just want to lie down and cry, this is very hard to take" - Mattias Skjelmose blows out of Liege-Bastogne-Liege contention attempting to follow Tadej Pogacar
CyclingMonday, 22 April 2024 at 10:13
Despite having vocal ambitions of a podium finish ahead of Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2024, Mattias Skjelmose was sadly forced to settle for 28th, nearly four minutes down on eventual winner Tadej Pogacar.
"This week is a big disappointment. Right now I just want to lie down and cry, this is very hard to take," reflects the Lidl-Trek leader emotionally and regretfully post-race to Danish media, referring also to his abandon of La Fleche Wallonne in midweek. "I expressed my ambitions, but I have to go back to the drawing board."
Skjelmose does however, seem to realise the reason things went wrong for him. "Everything went as expected and when Tadej went I tried to follow. I never recovered from that. Maybe I dreamed too big and forgot what kind of champion Tadej is," he assesses honestly. "Trying to follow him cost me my entire race. If you get too close to the sun, you will burn.”
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- I love to see Bernal back in front. I hope he can seriously go for the podium
DareDevil17-05-2025 - That is if the championships actually take place there this year.
MrCampy17-05-2025 - Wout is Right. They should be arrested. I mean they can't even protest right. The item holding isn't even Palestinian, its mesopotamia and used by many groups, well before the idea of a Palestinian Arab existed. I just hope the Italian police act but I wouldn't be suprised if they don't. It's time we all stand up to these terror supporters.HoopoeChai17-05-2025
- Not directed at you: Firstly, not going to trust a list that features Jay Vibe 28mins down. Secondly why if gaining 4 seconds over 500km is devastating do we criticise a superlative when Reusser gets ejected 20 seconds over 1km? Thirdly, is Matxin happy to tacitly leave his remaining riders to fight each other at the expense of team structure? I think yes. There’s a cat and there are mice and they can do what they like as long as the cat is away. I’m pretty sure the « selfish « attitude of Ayo is partly due to encouragement, after all, has anyone heard or witnessed him getting disciplined for any initiatives? It’s a little easy and cheap to focus attitude criticism on riders alone, there’s more to it.Mistermaumau17-05-2025
- Its crazy, One Issac del toro is not a climber, Majka will work so he will drop down. That leaves three guys onlyabstractengineer17-05-2025
- This was a mountain sprint, the first summit finish of many. If in the third week he is there and defeats other contenders, then only he will win. Too earlyabstractengineer17-05-2025
- Interesting to see whether del Toro eventually leapfrogs Ayuso in the UAE pecking order. Juan knows he needs to deliver this year or risk losing his ranking within the team.Renz17-05-2025
- Isaac Del T could win this race if they let him.Renz17-05-2025
- We noticed that. Not good enough today, but he needs to be good in the last week.DareDevil16-05-2025
If you ever go into the red in a bike race you are done. Very few guys can recover from such serious efforts. He'll keep developing and get better, just a matter of time.
He needs to get a tiny bit better to stay with Pogacar. He has few years left to grow. Still young
Tiny bit better ? How about a LOT better to stay with Tadeg !
Agreed
Pogi is unstoppable today I guess
Nice way to put it.