This time last year, Mattias Skjelmose was plotting a careful route to the 2025 Tour de France which involved taking on his first Grand Tour as leader, the Vuelta a España, and proving to himself he could cope with the arduous nature of a three-week GC bid.
However, after succeeding in that aim at the Vuelta, where he finished fifth overall, won the best young rider's white jersey and only got better as the race went on, Skjelmose changed his ambition to wanting another year of building at the Giro d'Italia.
He hasn't been afforded that luxury after revealing his 2025 schedule, though, with Lidl-Trek instead choosing to stick with the original plan and send him to the Tour to chase GC.
"We changed the plans in late fall, but it's back to being the Tour again," Skjelmose told media including Cyclingnews at his team's January training camp.
"I would like to have done the Giro. After the Vuelta, it seemed like the most obvious step. But the team wanted me at the Tour.
"The Giro was my choice and I was motivated for that. But I also understand that the team's main goal is the Tour and we want to put the strongest squad at all the Grand Tours and my space was in the Tour."
Team management also revealed that it's partially due to the sponsors being unhappy with how the 2024 Tour went for Lidl-Trek, who after Mads Pedersen abandoned before stage 8, were left without their key stage hunter.
Giulio Ciccone also tried for GC but finished outside the top 10 and over 20 minutes away from the podium. Skjelmose offers the chance at a much higher finish.
"The Giro was the initial plan but then when you start to analyze and you also know that the sponsor was not happy with what happened last year, then you have to change things," said lead DS Steven de Jongh to Cyclingnews.
"I think with Mattias there, we have a really good chance. He's a guy who survives the wind quite well and handles that stress, of course, it's important to have a GC guy like him at the Tour.
"If everybody is healthy and fit, I think he will be close to the top five to seven in the Tour and that will be really nice."
After impressing in Spain and losing out only to Primož Roglič, Ben O'Connor, Richard Carapaz and Enric Mas, Skjelmose was pleased with the step up he made but felt going for GC at the Tour was too soon, with a Giro appearance in 2025 more suitable to his current level.
"I'm super happy with my Vuelta, especially because I had a difficult first week and I really bounced back," he said.
"I confirmed my belief that I could be a GC leader at a Grand Tour, also the way the Vuelta was ridden was really hard with no easy days, which confirmed that my recovery is improving and that was my main problem in previous Grand Tours."
The Dane felt the podium was more within reach at the Giro compared to at the Tour where, barring injury to any of the top stars, he'll likely be in the thick of a congested fight for fourth behind the trio of Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel.
"With all the respect for the Vuelta, I think is the one that is maybe the easiest with media attention and pressure and obviously the Tour is above all by quite a big amount," said Skjelmose.
"So the Giro would make sense in the way that there's more pressure than the Vuelta, but still not as much as in the Tour. I felt I took a big step after the Vuelta, pure performance-wise, and I would like to have seen myself performing [at the Giro], maybe reaching for a podium."
While he doesn't yet believe 2025 is the year he matches those three mentioned above, Skjelmose knows anything can happen in three weeks.
"I said before that you always try to be the best as possible because you never know how good the guys there are. And I have never been with these guys, so I don't know the numbers needed to stay with them," said the Dane.
"I think it would be difficult to stay with them this year but I hope to be right behind them at least. Then if you're there, you never know, one bad day in the Tour, and a lot of things can happen. But I still think they are one or two steps above me."
Skjelmose won't be the main focus as he was at the Vuelta back in August and September, with Jonathan Milan's debut and the sprint train he's bringing with him set to take up the majority of Lidl-Trek's eight-man roster.
"Yes and no," said Skjelmose when asked if he was the team leader for July. "The main priority will be Milan, and then I will see how it goes.
As it stands, he won't have any specific mountain support, but a lot can changed to their planned roster in the next seven months and the Dane is aware, as Mads Pedersen when it was announced he wouldn't be doing the Tour, that Milan presents a real chance at winning four stages and the green jersey.
"I mean, of course, I would have liked some support, and I don't think it's fully decided yet," said Skjelmose.
"But I also understand that Johnny is probably the most talented sprinter in the world right now and he needs all the support he can. He's got a big shot at green and we need to support the team goals.
"The team prioritized this and that's how it is. I just want to show myself and if it ends up not being on GC, then somewhere else."
Skjelmose will head to three altitude camps around his season before starting the Tour in Lille, with a largely similar calendar to 2024. He'll start things in France at the Faun-Ardèche and Faun-Drome Classics, before riding Paris-Nice, Itzulia Basque Country, all three Ardennes Classics and the Critérium du Dauphiné.
