Lidl-Trek: Pedersen has plausible green jersey explanation, Ciccone on cloud nine and Skjelmose remains humble

The first press conference of the 2023 Tour de France did not take place in a trendy press center or a fancy hotel, but "simply" in the local Lidl store in Bilbao. Talk about keeping it real. It was there that recently rebranded Lidl-Trek (formerly Trek-Segafredo) made its grand entrance and was introduced to the press. IDLProCycling.com took a seat on a camping chair among the congelados (frozen products) and carne (meat, as you'll probably know).

The originally German company, which had previously been a co-sponsor of Patrick Lefevere's Quick Step team, decided to take the plunge and became the main sponsor of the cycling team run by Luca Guercilena, starting from June 30th. Thanks to the agreement with Lidl, Lidl-Trek now has a significantly beefier budget, with the aim of competing for the general classification in the major tours in the coming years.

After the marketing representatives from the stakeholders had their say and Ellen van Dijk had her moment on the small stage, the eight participants for this Tour were introduced by Josu Larrazabal, Head of Performance at Lidl-Trek. And who better to start with than... Mads Pedersen. "Whenever he appears at the starting line, he actually seems to win at least once," Josu remarked while casting a cautious glance at the smiling Danish rider.

Pedersen jokes, but is also serious: "I'm in top form" 

"If you do that, and you're always so close like him, then you automatically compete for the points jersey," Larrazabal continued. "That's exactly what we're going to try." Pedersen himself didn't immediately share the same enthusiasm. "I want to approach it like I did in last year's Vuelta. I picked up some points, and suddenly I was in contention for the jersey. We'll follow the same approach this time, but it's not the main goal like it was in the past Giro. However, it will always be in the back of my mind. Who are the competitors? I don't know, maybe even my teammate Jasper," Pedersen laughed, pointing towards Stuyven. "If he's in the breakaway often, he'll be in the mix as well."

The former world champion is always quite the jokester in these types of events, which he does not take too seriously. He can't suppress his laughter when asked "lesser" questions, often throwing back the ball to the reporters by responding with "you tell me," and occasionally joking about with Stuyven. However, he is always more than clear about his ambitions. "My goal? A stage win. I had to abandon the Giro, but I was able to fully prepare for the Tour afterward. I'm in top form." Stuyven and Alex Kirsch are his main helpers.

For the heavy-duty stages, Lidl-Trek has some aces up their sleeve with Mattias Skjelmose, winner of the Tour de Suisse, and Giulio Ciccone, who won the final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. "Giulio is a specialist in mountain breakaways. He almost won the mountain jersey in both the Giro and the Tour last year, and he will be keeping an eye on it again," Larrazabal said. The Italian got married last week and is still on cloud nine. "This Tour is my honeymoon!" he exclaimed a bit too loudly.

Skjelmose doesn't yet know what he's capable of in three weeks of racing

Then there's Skjelmose, the Danish rider that the team wants to handle with care. "He won Switzerland and the Danish championship, so he's a solid rider. We know he's young and capable of anything, but it's not fair to expect too much of him," the team staff says, clearly keeping the youngster grounded. "No matter the outcome, we'll support him."

Skjelmose himself fully concurs. "It's my first Tour, and I have high expectations, but I also know it will be a new experience that I can't fully prepare for. I'm simply happy to be able to appear at the starting line," said the versatile rider, who claims to have pedaled away his own doubts in Switzerland.

"But that doesn't mean I know what I can do in three weeks, maybe my performance goes downhill in the third week," he stated. In that sense, he appreciates Lidl-Trek's approach of aiming to compete for victory in every stage. "In the sprints, I just need to follow Mads' wheel in the finale, which worked really well in Paris-Nice. This is the right approach for me."

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