“If this extraordinary generation wasn’t here, we’d be talking about Mattias as one of the best GC guys coming up” Skjelmose gets a lot of praise from Lidl-Trek

The people who lead the current peloton are some of the best cyclists to ever compete. Lidl-Trek says that Mattias Skjelmose has what it takes to fight with the best. In recent seasons, stars like Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, and others have stood out.

“It’s true that Mattias can’t be directly compared to Tadej and Remco,” Lidl-Trek’s head of performance Josu Larrazabal tells Velo. “But if this amazing generation wasn’t here, we’d be talking about Mattias as one of the best GC guys coming up.” “We should also remember that Primoz Roglic didn’t win the Vuelta for the first time until he was 30 years old.” Matthew is 24 years old and has already done three Grand Tours.

In the three Grand Tour shows he has done so far, Skjelmose has gotten better each time. He finished 49th overall in the Giro d’Italia in 2022, with a best stage finish of 10th. He then finished 29th in the general classification at the Tour de France in 2023. But it was the Vuelta a España in 2024 that he really broke through, finishing in the top 5 in the GC and winning the Best Young Rider’s Jersey.

The Dane was being watched by Larrazabal for two years before he joined Trek in 2021. “We helped him join the Leopard Continental team and talked to him and his coach a lot.” He is a very important project for us, and we brought him with us from the base. He has gone through all of the steps with us.

“Mattias is a great example of the new generation of riders; they’re all-around great.” “He’s great at time trials and, in my opinion, a lot like Remco: he has a smaller body but is very close to the bigger guys in the time trials who have won overall, based on how well they do in time trials,” the Lidl-Trek man says. “He’s always done well in one-week stage races, and on top of that, he’s great at one-day races.” He’s not the type of general classification rider who needs to be tired during stage races to show how good he is. He can ride in a lot of different ways.

Skjelmose needs to step it up even more now that he had such a great Vuelta result. “He has to keep growing now that he has shown he can stand out for three weeks,” says Kim Andersen, whom is in charge of sports. “I think the top three or four spots are taken for now, but getting back into the top five in a grand tour is a very important goal to have.” Then he can be on the podium if he has a great day.