Mattias Skjelmose takes first-ever Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica on winning return to racing for Lidl-Trek leader

Cycling
Sunday, 22 June 2025 at 15:10
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Lidl-Trek's Mattias Skjelmose has won the inaugural Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica atop a rainy summit finish at Coll de la Botella, returning to racing strongly ahead of the upcoming Tour de France.
Nine riders got themselves up the road early and into the day's breakaway. Most notable of the attackers was former Red Jersey wearer at the Vuelta a Espana, Odd Christian Eiking of Unibet Tietema Rockets. By 44km to go however, all of the early leaders had been reeled back in by the peloton.
The next big move came on the penultimate climb of the day, with Davide Formolo moving clear solo at the head of the race. With the Italian unable to lure out any counter moves to join him however, Formolo was soon swept up by the Lidl-Trek led peloton at 24km to go.
Before the final climb of the day, Diego Uriarte attacked the main bunch, now down to only around 30 riders. The Spaniard didn't last too long though, and was caught at 11km to go, immediately dropping out of contention.
With 5km to go, four riders were locked together at the front of the race, with Sebastian Berwick, Mattias Skjelmose, Enric Mas and Cristian Rodriguez looking relatively evenly matched. As the pace stalled slightly though, riders were beginning to come closer into behind. Sensing this, Berwick launched an acceleration with around 4km to go, not only pushing back the chasers, but also distancing Skjelmose.
At around 3.5km to go, Berwick himself started to look in difficulty as Mas put the hammer down at the front. As the pace stalled once again though, both Berwick and Skjelmose were back in contact as they entered the final 2km.
As the reached the flamme rouge, Esteban Chaves had also got himself back into the mix, increasing the fight for victory to five riders. The diminutive Colombian was the first to launch an attack too, although it was quickly nullified by his rivals. In the sprint for the line, victory was then secured by Skjelmose, ahead of Rodriguez and Mas.

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