Mattias Skjelmose "looking at one-week World Tour stage races" in 2023 and gives credit to Mads Perdersen "one of the reasons I had such a good year”

Trek-Segafredo Mattias Skjelmose is one of the most exciting young talents currently, the 22 years old cyclist from Copenhagen, Denmark had an interesting 2022 season. He secured podium GC finishes in Tour de Provence, Tour de Wallonie, Tour de l'Ain and PostNord Danmark Rundt plus winning Tour de Luxembourg GC and the 4th stage of the race (ITT). He established himself has one of the main riders in the 2.1 and 2. Pro stage races.

"I hope to take a new step, and then I'm mainly looking at one-week World Tour stage races. I want to keep developing myself step by step and would like to go to the Tour de France. I know why I burned my fingers in the Giro, and I love racing in France. Likewise, I really hope that will work out”, said Skjelmose to Velonews about his goals for the next season.

Skjelmose was always looked up to as a rider who has the skills necessary to be a rider fighting and winning the general classifications in stage races, including Grand Tours. Last season, while racing his 2nd year in World Tour, the Danish talent got his first Grand Tour debut at Giro d'Italia.

He went to Giro has a shadow leader in a squad that featured the always combative Italian climber Giulio Ciccone and one of the surprises of the Giro, Juan Pedro Lopez, who got to wear the pink jersey for 10 stages and finished 10th overall. But the expectations about him were not match has he finished 40th overall, having a low profile performance. He stated that his Giro results were related to too harsh trains and too much pressure on himself as the shadow leader of the team.

Despite his not very eventful debut at a Grand Tour, Skjelmose is still a very talented rider that has a lot of potential to do great results at World Tour level and secured a great 2022 season. He gives this success to his teammate, compatriot Mads Pedersen, who he calls “big brother”.

“I was told last year that I am a leader, but I also have to show that I am a leader. In that respect, I have a mentor in Mads. He is someone I look up to, he is like a big brother to me and tries to teach me everything. Just before the Tour of Luxembourg, I watched a speech by Mads on the bus before a stage in the Vuelta. He encouraged his teammates to perform, and he won his first stage that day. I learnt a lot from that. Mads Pedersen is very special and one of the reasons I had such a good year”, he said.

Mads Pedersen is one of the team captains, will this mean that Skjelmose can also get this role? For now, he remains cautious.

“I don't have the self-confidence of Mads, but I tried to do the same in Luxembourg. I think it helped the team that I showed that I really meant it, that I could do it. You have to show your teammates that you are a leader and not just because a team leader says so to you. I cannot be the same rider as Mads because we are completely different. But as a person, as a leader and as a human being, I really look up to what he does”, concluded Skjelmose.

Data powered by FirstCycling.com