"I think the route suits him very well" - Lidl-Trek DS optimistic for Mattias Skjelmose at 2025 Tour de France

The 2025 Tour de France route has been revealed and whilst fans are already looking forward to certain stages and upcoming battles for the teams in the peloton, the preparation and planning for next year's Tour is already underway.

One of those teams in question, is Lidl-Trek. "I think it's a fantastic route. It gets crazy hard at the end. There are a lot of mountain finishes," sports director Kim Andersen assesses in conversation with Ekstra Bladet. "I think it will be a great spectacle, and it is a very traditional Tour with a relatively flat start and then a tough finale. We also have to drive an extra day before the first rest day, and they have a crazy hard 10th stage in the Massif Central on Bastille Day. It will be violent."

In 2024, Lidl-Trek's team consisted of Mads, Pedersen, Giulio Ciccone, Toms Skujins, Julien Bernard, Carlos Verona, Ryan Gibbons, Jasper Stuyven and Tim Declerq as they opted for a mostly stage hunting plan. Could these tactics change in 2025 though? "I cannot comment on that at this time. We are playing with the program right now," Andersen answers coolly. "I think we have several things to turn around, as the situation is now."

If it is to be a GC charge from Lidl-Trek in 2025 though, it's likely to be Mattias Skjelmose leading the way. The Dane finished 5th overall at the Vuelta a Espana earlier this year, proving himself as a Grand Tour classification rider for the first time. "I think the route suits him very well. There is a flat time trial at the start (5th stage) and there are some stages with the possibility of crosswinds which will also suit him well," Andersen muses. "Now he has shown that he can ride for three weeks, and then the next step comes, and you try to ride a little further up in the standings."