Mathieu Warnier, Media365, published on Thursday January 23, 2025 at 9:30 p.m.
Despite his stated wish to participate in the 2025 edition of the Giro, Mattias Skjelmose confirmed that his team is counting on him for the next Tour de France and will make the trip.
Mattias Skjelmose will be expected this season. Fifth in the general classification and best young rider in the Vuelta last year, the Danish rider recently lifted the veil on his program in 2025. While he had announced at the start of last season his ambition to participate in the 112th Tour de France, who will set off on July 5 from Lille, the native of Copenhagen had returned to his ambitions. Indeed, at the end of a successful Tour of Spain, he assured that he wanted to concentrate on the Giro in 2025 and postpone a second participation in the Grande Boucle until 2026. However, in comments collected by the site specialized Cyclingnews on the sidelines of a training camp for the Lidl-Trek team, Matthias Skjelmose conceded that the initial plan will be respected. “We changed the plans at the end of the fall but there is once again a question of participating in the Tour,” declared the Dane. I would have liked to participate in the Giro. After the Vuelta, it seemed the most obvious next step. However, the team wanted to count on me during the Tour de France. »
Skjelmose on the Tour to also please partners
Emphasizing that his choice was to explore the Italian roads and have the motivation to do well in this event, Mattias Skjelmose finally followed the advice of his leaders. “I understand that the team's main objective is the Tour de France and we want to field the best possible team in each of the three Grand Tours,” he concedes. My place is thus on the Tour. » A decision that the leaders of the Lidl-Trek team assured was only partially based on sporting considerations. Indeed, as noted Cyclingnews the commercial partners of the American team had little taste for the scenario of the last Tour de France, in which the riders led by Luca Guercilena did not shine. Mads Pedersen's withdrawal from the eighth stage was difficult to accept. The presence of Mattias Skjelmose, who took an anonymous 29th place in the general classification for his only participation in 2023 more than two hours behind his compatriot Jonas Vingegaard, should offer better visibility to the Lidl-Trek team jersey on the Grande Loop.
