Mattias Skjelmose: "If Mathieu van der Poel feels the same way he did in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, few will be able to follow him"

Mattias Skjelmose was second at Flèche Wallone and rode a brilliant Liège-Bastogne-Liège last year, and so in 2024 he comes into the Ardennes classics with higher ambitions and the sole leadership of Lidl-Trek. However, he recognizes that it will be difficult to top Mathieu van der Poel.

“Maybe the Flèche Wallonne suits me better, but I really like this race," Skjelmose told Wielerflits ahead of the race. "It was super difficult last year. We have to anticipate, because if Mathieu van der Poel feels the same way he did in the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, few will be able to follow him. If you don't anticipate, you're going to have to ride after him.”

The Dane is all too aware of the dangers of the World Champion. Last year Tadej Pogacar was the strongest on the road and made the differences on the climbs towards a solo win, in a way that Amstel wasn't won in many years. Into the last decisive ascents of the day, several teams will want to be ahead of Alpecin-Deceuninck and Lidl-Trek, despite not having the flashiest of lineups, will want to be among them.

However Alpecin have a very strong lineup including Gianni Vermeersch who essentially covered the main attacks at both Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix before van der Poel made his move. The key climbs will be between 40 and 25 kilometers to go as well, which means the race has to open very early on for the Belgian team to be put under serious pressure.