Tour de France, a runner changes his mind

Mattias Skjelmose will be expected this season. Fifth in the general and best young classification of the Vuelta last year, the Danish runner recently lifted the veil on his program in 2025. While he had announced at the start of the season his ambition to participate in the 112nd Tour de France, Who will rush 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 ensured wanted to focus on the Giro in 2025 and repel a second participation in the Grande Boucle until 2026.

However, in remarks collected by the specialized site
Cyclingnews On the sidelines of a training course of the LIDL-Trek team, Matthias Skjelmose conceded that the initial plan will be well respected. “We changed the plans at the end of autumn but it is again a question of participating in the Tour,” said the Danish. I would have liked to participate in the Giro. After the Vuelta, it seemed to me 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

Hamming that his choice was to walk the Italian roads and have the motivation to do well on this event, Mattias Skjelmose finally ranked behind the advice of his leaders. “I understand that the main objective of the team is the Tour de France and we want to align the best possible team on each of the three big towers,” he concedes. My place is thus on the Tour. A decision that the leaders of the LIDL-Trek team assured that they were only partially based on sports considerations.

Indeed, as the note Cyclingnews The business partners of the American team have little tasted the scenario of the last Tour de France, on which the runners led by Luca Guecilena did not shine. The abandonment of Mads Pedersen from the eighth stage was difficult to accepted. 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 from his compatriot Jonas Vingegaard, should offer better visibility to the jersey of the Lidl-Trek team on the big Loop.