Mattias Skjelmose bounces back into Tour de Suisse: "I have a few good people around me and they kept believing in me"

Mattias Skjelmose was the defendnig champion at the Tour de Suisse but found himself with a difficult challenge this week. The Lidl-Trek rider could not match the dominance of UAE Team Emirates but overcame a bad day to still take on the rest of the field and jump into the podium last-minute.

“I am very satisfied. The goals for today were to win the stage and get a podium spot, and being on the podium was even more important. To get that podium spot is very special. It took a special performance to do that and I think I did that," Skjelmose said after his monumental afternoon this afternoon in Villars-sur-Ollon.

Last year the Danish champion took the overall title and he looked quite good on the first true mountain challenge on stage 4 this week, being second out of the GC riders only behind Adam Yates. He was 13th the following day however and descended to sixth in the GC. The podium dream wasn't however, and today with a strong time-trial he climbed back into this position.

Skjelmose, as was the case with the GC, was the best out of the non-UAE riders. He was third on the day, 20 seconds slower than João Almeida; but won 1:10 minutes on Egan Bernal, enough to climb onto the final podium.

“I have shown this week that I can come back well. A bad day does not mean you are a bad rider," he learned. "It is important to be mentally strong and have the right mindset. I have a few good people around me and they kept believing in me, that brought me back." The Dane will not race the Tour de France, but instead rest after the national championships, later on focusing on the Vuelta a España.