"Many media outlets that have made a big deal out of nothing" - Skjelmose shuts down Ayuso Lidl-Trek leadership debate

Mattias Skjelmose believes he and Juan Ayuso have put speculation over a leadership battle within Lidl-Trek to bed after their Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes performances. With Ayuso finishing in fourth and Skjelmose seventh, the American team bring their leaders to the Tour de France with high ambitions.

After Ayuso joined the team over winter, doubts emerged about whether the Danish rider would be working with Ayuso as a dual leader or in his service at key races. Ahead of the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, this came to the boil as the duo prepared to take on their highest-profile race together.

The pair finished the team time trial on stage three together, and both performed well in the mountians over the final stages. Ayuso seemed strongest of the two, attacking on the final climb of stage seven and only beaten by winner Isaac Del Toro. But when the UAE rider attacked early on the final stage's finish, Ayuso seemingly asked Skjelmose to pull for him in the chase behind.

Skjelmose did come through and put the hammer down as the pair demonstrated good co-operation. The Dane doesn't understand the leadership debate, and thinks their performance will shut down speculation.

"There are many media outlets that have made a big deal out of nothing," Skjelmose told TV 2 Sport. "I'm glad we were able to show here that we can both be captains at the same time.

The Tour de France is the big goal for Ayuso and Skjelmose, but they face stiff competition. With the stage race forming perfect preparation and a chance to get to know eachother, Skjelmose had high praise for the Spanish rider.

He added: "He's a good guy. There's not much there. It's the first real race we've done together, and it's a good collaboration that we're going into the Tour with."

Lidl-Trek come as one of the contenders at the Tour de France, but perhaps lower down the pecking order in a stacked GC field headlined by defending champion Tadej Pogacar.

Jonas Vingegaard arrives trying to reclaim the Tour title, Paul Seixas comes with lofty ambitions at his first grand tour while fellow dual leaders Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz are also in the conversation for podium and beyond. Several other general classification hopefuls include Kevin Vauquelin, Tobias Johannessen and Lenny Martinez.