After riding his best season to date, top Danish rider Mattias Skjelmose has extended his stay with Lidl-Trek through to 2026.
Skjelmose was one of the highest-performing riders in 2023, taking his first WorldTour win on stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse and backing it up with his first overall victory at the week-long WorldTour stage race in Switzerland.
The 23-year-old also impressed in the Ardennes where he finished in the top 10 of all three Classics and was second at La Flèche Wallonne behind only Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). He then went on to become the Danish national champion and debuted at the Tour de France.
It’s been a quick rise to leadership for the young Dane, but 2023 showed he was one of the very best GC prospects in the peloton, with the one-day capabilities to back it up, making it essential for Lidl-Trek to retain his talents.
“Lidl-Trek always believed in me, since day one. It was quite an easy choice, when they came with an offer, showing me even more trust, it was hard to say no,” said Skjelmose in a team statement.
“I developed a lot as a Lidl-Trek rider and it’s always a risk to change teams and I didn’t see any reason to do that when I believe I can improve more here.
“The team proposed a good plan for me which I was very happy with. It fits perfectly with my vision and what I believe will work best for me.”
The Dane has already made a flying start to 2024 with two top-five finishes at the Faun Ardèche and Faun Drome Classic. He will next be in action at Paris-Nice which starts this Sunday, March 3 where he will be one of the GC riders challenging Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe).
Skjelmose is set to skip the Tour de France in 2024 with a long-term goal to mount a full assault on the GC there in 2025. Instead, he’ll co-lead the American team at the Ardennes before riding the Dauphiné and the Vuelta a España in the summer, with an Olympic berth also in mind should he be selected.
The Spanish Grand Tour will be a huge goal for the Dane, where he hopes to develop further as an overall GC threat ahead of returning to the Tour de France for a second time next year.
“The big thing about not doing the tour this year is to do the Vuelta and then hopefully having a successful GC in a Grand Tour before going all in for the Tour in 2025,” Skjelmose told Cyclingnews at Lidl-Trek’s December training camp.
“It's difficult to say now but at least the top 10,” said the Dane of his expectations for the Vuelta which starts in Lisbon on August 17.
“If I'm a podium contender until the last few days and then explode, then I will be sad with top 10. But if I'm, you know, always ninth, eighth, seventh, always there, then I will be happy to just be able to compete at the top of a Grand Tour GC.”
In the three years of his new contract, however, he’s dreaming even bigger.
“I would love to have stood on a Grand Tour podium by the next time we have this conversation about a contract extension, hopefully with the same team,” he said.
“That’s the dream scenario, but I have a lot of other goals, and as long as I keep developing, I’m also really happy.
“Everything moves so fast in this sport, and if you stand still, you’re in trouble. For me, right now, I couldn’t imagine being in a better place.”
