"We support him 100 percent" - Mattias Skjelmose all in for Mads Pedersen's Olympic gold challenge in Paris

Traditionally one of the most chaotic and hard to predict races on the entire racing calendar, the men's road race at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris has the potential to be an absolute thriller. Although Denmark will start with multiple potential gold medal winning options, Mattias Skjelmose insists the team are in supporting Mads Pedersen.

“As I understand it from both him and his coach, he must be 110 percent ready to perform next Saturday. I have spoken to him a bit. I wrote to him and told him that regardless of what happens, we support him 100 percent for the Olympics," Skjelmose told Danish outlet BT ahead of this Saturday's road race, where the aforementioned Lidl-Trek duo will be joined Mikkel Bjerg and the experienced Michael Morkov in his final Olympic Games.

Whilst ordinarily, Pedersen would start as one of the main favourites for gold alongside the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Biniam Girmay and Tom Pidcock among others, crashing out injured of the 2024 Tour de France was far from ideal preparation for the former world champion.

"It wasn't nice to see him go down, of course, but I think it was reassuring that he started the next two days. I think he went out with a view to being as ready as possible for the Olympics. It gave me even more confirmation that he must be there," assesses former Danish champion Skjelmose of his team leader's potential to claim Olympic gold in Paris.