“It was not my choice, the back is still pretty bad” – Frustrated Mattias Skjelmose leads Lidl-Trek in Guangxi despite lingering injuries

Mattias Skjelmose has admitted he is racing through the pain barrier at the season-ending 2025 Tour of Guangxi, after being instructed by Lidl-Trek to travel to China just days after abandoning Il Lombardia with a flare-up of his long-term back injury.

The 25-year-old Dane, who earlier this year became one of the few riders to beat both Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel in the same race, revealed to Cycling News that it was not his decision to line up in Guangxi — a race typically reserved for sprinters, young climbers and riders chasing contract extensions rather than proven leaders dealing with injuries.

“I don’t know, the back is still pretty fucked, so we will see what I can do,” Skjelmose said before stage 1 in Fangchenggang. “Maybe I do 10 kilometres, maybe I do the whole race, only time will tell. I think it would be really ambitious to say we will go for the GC now with the back, but, of course, we will try. We did a 30-hour journey, so it would be a shame to DNF the first day.”

Skjelmose did at least make it through the opening stage, finishing 83rd as Paul Magnier won in a sprint, but his words made it clear he is far from peak condition. Asked bluntly why he was selected to race, he laughed: “I cannot tell you, it was not my choice,” before acknowledging that the team had long planned for him to start. “The team said I should be here, and in normal circumstances it would be a chance to win a WorldTour race, and that’s always nice.”

He also suggested the team’s position in the UCI World Ranking may have been a factor. “Also – I mean, now it’s a bit unlikely that we can overtake Visma – but at some point, it was really close to fighting for second place in the team ranking, and that would have meant a lot to us, so I think that was the reason for it.”

For Skjelmose, the trip to China comes at the very end of a year defined by both standout results and physical setbacks. He claimed a major win at Amstel Gold Race, impressed with fourth at the World Championships in Rwanda, and finished seventh at the European Championships. But a herniated disc in his back, the same issue that ended his season prematurely last year, has flared up again.

“Quite early in the race, my herniated disc started to annoy me again, and I had to abandon the race,” he said of Lombardia. “It was quite sad as I was looking forward to racing Lombardy; it was my last big goal, but the body told me no.”

Skjelmose admitted the 30-hour travel to China took its toll. “The travel was quite long. We arrived at the hotel yesterday morning, but it was OK. It was the plan already, and I really pushed to do Lombardy, so that’s how it is.”

While he is fulfilling his team’s wishes to lead in Guangxi, Skjelmose is clearly looking beyond this final race of the year. With Juan Ayuso set to join Lidl-Trek in 2026, the Dane will be sharing leadership duties at the biggest races on the calendar — a responsibility that will require a clean slate and full fitness.

“Since my crash in the Tour, I had for the first time the whole year a consistent block of training without any setbacks and distractions, and I think that really shows in the races I did,” he reflected. “Also, racing with the national team, only having Danish people around, and really getting my Danish humour out, gave me a mental boost and gave me the confidence I could continue long into the end of the season. Now the back is the problem again, and that’s something we need to find a solution for, but with the level I showed at Worlds and Amstel this year, after this race I can take a good break and I’m quite motivated for next year already.”