"Significantly better quality"; Skjelmose speaks out after Ayuso’s arrival, but Danish former cyclist sides with Spaniard

Skjelmose himself has been part of Lidl-Trek since 2021 and has proved his worth. He won the Tour de Suisse in 2023, a stage in Paris-Nice in 2024, and, this year, he surprisingly won the Amstel Gold Race against Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel. In 2024, he also finished fifth in the Vuelta a España, including the youth jersey.

Until now, Skjelmose has been the most important classification rider in the Lidl-Trek selection. Giulio Ciccone and Tao Geoghegan Hart have not yet really lived up to expectations in that regard, but great things are expected of Ayuso. The climber already finished third in the Vuelta a España in 2022, at the age of nineteen. He has also been the overall winner of the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour of the Basque Country.

Although Lidl-Trek is very pleased with Ayuso, and the Spaniard himself is enthusiastic about the team's vision, Skjelmose openly questions whether the two are a good match. First of all, the Dane was not informed about the transfer. “It was a bit of a strange situation. The team never officially notified me, despite my awareness of the situation quite early on. I found that a bit strange.”

“It will be exciting, a new challenge,” he said. “I'm going off what the team has told me, which is that they believe in me. I'm not sure if Ayuso's arrival has anything to do with that. They've been saying for a few years that they want to build a team around me, but I don't think they brought him in as a helper. We'll see what happens.”

According to Skjelmose, the big question is: Does Ayuso belong at Lidl-Trek? In recent years, the team has proven itself to be world-class, largely because everyone is willing to go the extra mile for one another. “If Ayuso finds it difficult to ride for Tadej Pogacar at UAE, then I don't know if he'll want to help me at all when it comes down to it.”

“We have the same goals,” Skjelmose knows. “Of course, it could be that he didn't enjoy his time at UAE. I don't really know him, so I'm not sure what happened with that team. I hope we can use each other. It's possible that I won't be riding the Tour de France now, but I don't know yet. We'll have to look at that later.”

A fairly remarkable start to Ayuso's adventure at Lidl-Trek. How the team management will respond to this remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the German-American team will be hoping that things will go more smoothly than they did at UAE, where Ayuso was a controversial figure due to his behavior towards the team leaders.

The Spaniard did achieve a lot of success with that team, and Rasmussen has noticed that too. The four-time stage winner in the Tour spoke about Ayuso's arrival. "He has considerably more quality than Skjelmose. At two years younger, he has already achieved many more victories."

“And to be honest, his chances of reaching the podium of the Tour de France are much greater than Mattias will ever have,” the Danish former rider at Viaplay remarkably did not side with his compatriot.