A late burst from the Dane moves him to 6th overall and best young rider
After 19 days of grueling competition at the Vuelta a España, Lidl-Trek’s GC hopeful Mattias Skjelmose was rewarded for his consistent performances with a trip to the podium to slip on the White Jersey as best young rider. Since the start of the second week of the Grand Tour, Skjelly has been locked in a tight battle with the other contenders to the White Jersey – Carlos Rodríguez and Florian Lipowitz – but slowly but surely, our Dane clawed back time through the mountainous second and third weeks.
Whilst moving up the young rider ranking, Skjelmose has also gained places in the General Classification, and currently sits in 6th overall, but has the ambition to crack the top five within the final two stages. Tomorrow’s challenge is perhaps the most important mountain stage of the entire Vuelta, with seven categorized climbs on the menu. The final battle on the mountains will be followed by a time trial in Madrid, allowing for plenty of movement in the final rankings. For now, Skjelmose is happy to enjoy his moment on the podium, and will give his all to carry his momentum to the finish line in Madrid.
It was really painful. In all the last days, me and Carlos have tried to drop each other but our limit is really close to each other so it’s been difficult. I have a small upper hand with a good acceleration in the end, and that gained me small seconds all the time. It’s nice to be in the White Jersey now.
(Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
I think it will be a good battle. In my opinion, tomorrow is a perfect day for Carlos: a lot of kilojoules in the legs before the last climb. He has such a huge engine, he’s a good rider in general, but especially when the day becomes so hard and all the explosivity is taken out of the legs. He’s a really strong guy, so of course I’m a bit scared, but I hope I can follow him.
(Photo by Dario Belingheri/Getty Images)
It’s my first time having a proper go at the GC in a Grand Tour, and of course I start to feel it, but I think the other guys do as well. Well, maybe not Primož. I’ve tried not to go over the limit any day, just saving myself as much as possible. For me, the most important was to prove myself, that I stay consistent and don’t crack tomorrow. One day at a time.
