Rasmussen belittles Roglic a bit with well-meaning advice toward Danish hope Skjelmose

Michael Rasmussen hopes that Mattias Skjelmose will make another dash for the Giro d'Italia after his successful debut at the Vuelta a España. The former rider states in Ekstra Bladet that despite his fifth place and white jersey in the Vuelta, Skjelmose has shown where his weaknesses lie. According to Rasmussen, his compatriot from Lidl-Trek will find a round tailored to him in the Giro. We suspect the comments about the Vuelta will fall somewhat short with Primoz Roglic.

Skjelmose rode the Vuelta a España in recent weeks. A fifth place in the GC and the white jersey made for an overjoyed reckoning in Madrid. The big question now is: what's next for the 23-year-old Lidl-Trek leader? He has done all three grand tours once: the Giro in 2022, the Tour in 2023, and the Vuelta in 2024. A role as a leader in the grand tours seems irreversible.

"I had tipped him for a place between number six and 10 in the GC," Rasmussen admits honestly. According to the controversial Dane, however, Skjelmose had some luck. "Nobody expected Mikel Landa to lose three minutes right before the final weekend suddenly. And no one had predicted that the UAE-Team Emirates would not have a single rider among the first five. Skjelmose also had the advantage that Florian Lipowitz was riding for Primoz Roglic and not for his classification."

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Rasmussen calls Vuelta merely "backup" for Skjelmose

"Having said that, you only finish fifth in the Vuelta if you have been riding steady. He had one of his best days on the bike, days that were better than his overall victory in the Tour of Switzerland," Rasmussen then praises. With that, Rasmussen adds, "Mattias had problems with the heat, so in that respect, the weather in the Giro d'Italia suits him better. There, it is much cooler; maybe that is the race for 2025, where he can go for the podium. Tadej Pogacar didn't exactly face phenomena this year, with Daniel Felipe Martínez and Geraint Thomas joining him on the podium."

Doing well in the Giro will eventually open the Tour de France door. Skjelmose already started there once in 2023 with ambitions, but after his overall win in Switzerland, the Tour was somewhat disappointing. He could still work for Giulio Ciccone's polka dot jersey in the third week. "The Tour is a completely different dimension. If Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are competing, it goes quickly to the top. Skjelmose has to go and try it in the Tour, though, because the Vuelta a España is just a backup, like Roglic is now."