VIDEO: Shivering Mattias Skjelmose literally carried out of La Fleche Wallonne after abandon
CyclingThursday, 18 April 2024 at 09:54
The weather in the Ardennes for La Fleche Wallonne 2024 was nothing short of horrific. The riders were battered by sleet and rain for almost the entire day with a number of the big pre-race favourites coming unstuck as a result.
One of those aforementioned favourites to see their hopes dashed by mother nature, was Lidl-Trek leader Mattias Skjelmose. The Dane was runner-up in 2023 and had come to this year's edition with big ambitions. Sadly though, it wasn't to be as he was forced to abandon with around 40km still to go.
So cold was Skjelmose when he abandoned, the visibly shaking and shivering 23-year-old had to be carried off of his bike by those at the roadside. Skjelmose was then given a rather rough looking rub down before being literally carried off the race.
On social media, Lidl-Trek updated on Skjelmose's condition. “We can confirm that our riders who had symptoms of hypothermia due to the bad weather conditions are feeling better again thanks to a hot shower, hot drink and warm air in the team bus. No major treatments are necessary and everything is under control." Positive news.
See the scenes for yourself down below!
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- It's irrelevant whether the riders will oppose safety measures or not. The UCI have demonstrated time and again that they don't care what the riders think. The UCI will implement whatever they want (which based on recent history, has nothing related to rider safety anyway). Also, it's not like the riders have a vote anyway, so it's a hilarious and irrelevant point that you are making.Pogboom03-05-2025
- He forgets Landa, Merlier who have won or come close. if Remco leaves you simply become a sprint oriented team with talent already present. Sponsors have Remco on this team they are not going to get that chance with the big teams anyway when Remco moves. Also Remco's value isnt as high as before due to Pogi and Jonasabstractengineer03-05-2025
- The root cause of most crashes are the riders and do you know who will oppose the introduction of a new safety device-The riders.abstractengineer03-05-2025
- you’re everything wrong about our worldmij03-05-2025
- "Mathieu has also cleaned up everything on the road in the past two years" This year he was given a fight by Pogi in MSR and PR. and he was defeated in Flanders. In other races he is not even close to winning. There was no cleanup.abstractengineer03-05-2025
- Surely people had more fun watching you and your old "coworkers" saving energy for 4-5 hours and attacking the last 500 meters. Uff.. very funny. Typical resentful "old" cyclists against an incredibly talented (and disruptive) young man.
maria2024202403-05-2025 - What's more pressure than trying to beat MVDP in a one-day sprinter's classic? It's like trying to win a grand tour stage in a bunch sprint.. They both put each other in the pressure cooker, but JV needs to win, in my opinion, more than TP. Throw in Primoz and Remco in the climber's mix, and its going to be an exciting TDF.FredMan03-05-2025
- You're saying you'd rather believe LA than TP? Both great competitors but 2 different personalities altogether..FredMan03-05-2025
- Oh hey, thats a period and not a comma! You’re right. I did misread that. My apologies to the original post! Sorry ‘bout that, abstractengineer, thanks for pointing this out, mij.RidesHills03-05-2025
- Why would you expect cycling to be different than any other sport? World Tour riders pass tests in and out of competition, so the playing field is as level as can be found in any high level competition.
Barney02-05-2025
True. Could have gone full blown hypothermia, which is not fun😕
Smaller cyclists have very little body fat and it's tough to stay warm, some deal with better than others. Skjelmose had a bad time there, smart enough to DNF though.
Not healthy.
And dangerous too. Hypothermia is not fun as well
Done that before after a 42 degree (F) race in the rain. Arms didn't work in the last half, ended up winning, hanging around for a few mins talking afterwards and cooled off. By the time I got to my car, I was shivering so violently I could barely change clothes!
Oh no! That is not a good sign😕
This is borderline deadly!