Jayco-Alula have signed Mauro Schmid, believing the Swiss rider can develop into a successful Classics and one-week stage racer in the next three years.
The 23-year-old Schmid has raced for Soudal-QuickStep for the last two seasons but appears keen to have more leadership opportunities rather than ride for Remco Evenepoel.
Despite his young age, Schmid has already won a stage at the 2021 Giro d’Italia, when he was racing for Qhubeka. After joining QuickStep the following year, he won the 2022 Baloise Belgium Tour and the 2023 edition of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali stage race in Italy. He was also fifth overall in this year’s Tour Down Under, where he perhaps first impressed Jayco-Alula.
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“I always really liked the style of racing of the team, and I think it also fits my style of racing a lot. I hope to bring good spirit and some experience to the team, and I want to keep developing in the future and I know that Team Jayco-Alula is the right place for me to do that,” Schmid said.
“I see myself as an allrounder, I am good on short punchy climbs and can also sprint quite well and I will try to help Team Jayco-Alula to win as many races as possible in the next years.”
Jayco-Alula expect Schmid to complement stage race team leaders Simon Yates and Eddie Dunbar.
“Mauro is a winner; we’ve seen already at a young age that he’s been able to win races and be competitive in the highest classification races,” manager Brent Copeland said.
“Classics and one-week stage races are where the performance group believe he is best suited, and we’re really pleased and excited about this signing. It definitely strengthens the team in the area we were looking for.
“We see Mauro as a long-term project, it’s a three-year contract, which is great for the future of the team and we can build a team around him as well, he will be considered as one of the leaders for sure.”
