"If this extraordinary generation wasn’t here, we’d be talking about Mattias as one of the best GC guys coming up" - Lidl-Trek's big praise for Skjelmose
Cycling
The modern cycling peloton is being led by some of the greatest talents ever seen in the sport. The likes of Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and others, have starred in recent seasons, but according to Lidl-Trek, Mattias Skjelmose has the potential to compete against the very best.
“It’s true that compared to Tadej and Remco, Mattias cannot be directly compared, but if this extraordinary generation wasn’t here, we’d be talking about Mattias as one of the best GC guys coming up,” Lidl-Trek’s head of performance Josu Larrazabal explains in conversation with Velo. “And we have to remember that Primoz Roglic didn’t win his first Vuelta until he was 30. Mattias is 24 and already has three Grand Tours in his legs.”
In his three Grand Tour showings to date, Skjelmose has progressively improved his performances. 49th overall at the 2022 Giro d'Italia with a best stage finish of 10th, then 29th in the GC at the 2023 Tour de France before making a real breakthrough at the Vuelta a Espana in 2024, securing a top 5 in the general classification and winning the Best Young Rider's Jersey.
“We were following Mattias two years before he joined Trek [in 2021],” Larrazabal says of the Dane. “We helped to get him in the Leopard Continental team and we were in touch with him and his coach a lot. He has been a really special project for us, someone who we’ve brought with us from the base. He’s done all the progression with us.”
“Mattias is an example of the new generation: they’re really complete riders. He’s a TT specialist and, in my opinion, similar to Remco: a smaller body shape but really close to the bigger guys in the time trials who have based GC wins on their TT performances," the Lidl-Trek man continues. “He has always been solid in one-week stage racing and on top of that he’s really strong in one-day racing. He’s not one of those GC guys who needs the fatigue of stage racing to show how strong he is. He’s a really versatile rider.”
After the breakthrough Vuelta performance though, it's now time for Skjelmose to kick on even further. “Now he’s shown that he can stand out for three weeks, he has to keep growing,” sports director Kim Andersen adds. “For the moment, the first three or four places are probably taken, but another top-five in a grand tour is a really serious goal to have. And then if he has a really good day, he can be on the podium.”
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- yeah, that’s a more fair assessment. “reaching mathieu’s level” doesn’t mean you’re planning to replicate his whole career. the former IS doable, potentially. it’s just the latter that likely is not.OCexile25-12-2024
- That’s not entirely true. Every person follows their own development path and peaks differently. Remco and Primoz had hardly started cycling before elite level. Jonas was pretty much under the radzr until he unexpectedly had to take over responsibility at JV. Some guys only get real good in their thirties others have peaked mid-twenties. You can’t tell in advance how and upto what level they will progress, obviously his career might not have MVDPs length but nothing says he could not end up doing a few seasons at his level.Mistermaumau25-12-2024
- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024