Mattias Skjelmose created a shockwave in the peloton when he outsprinted the world champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) to win Amstel Gold Race back in April.
After taking the biggest victory of his career, the Lidl-Trek rider admitted at the post-race press conference that it might take a while for the achievement to truly sink in, particularly the fact that he had managed to edge out Pogačar at the line. He even revealed that, heading into the finale, he was simply grateful to be in such elite company and would have considered third place a job well done.
Months later, the Dane returned to that momentous day in an interview with Wieler Revue.
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On that April day, sitting on Evenepoel’s wheel, Skjelmose bridged up to Pogačar, who had launched another blistering attack, and the trio stayed together as they raced to the finish line.
“Was I nervous in the final phase? No, why should I? I just wanted to ride my best sprint and then I would finish first, second or third,” the Dane told Wieler Revue.
"It's a quality not to overthink everything. I was mainly concerned with what to do and didn't think about the size of the race and what a great opportunity it was for me to beat two of the best riders in the world."
Just outside Valkenberg, Evenepoel led out the trio, launching the sprint with Pogačar locked onto his wheel. As the world champion surged past, Evenepoel could not match the speed and sat up. And then, from Pogačar’s slipstream, the Dane burst through, stunning everyone with a perfectly timed sprint.
Looking back, Skjelmose received a lot of comments.
"That I won has given hope to other riders in the peloton. People have come to me who said it was a blessing for the sport,” said Skjelmose, who added that he had some beautiful pictures saved in his phone's gallery. “I think the most beautiful thing is that we all throw our bikes over the side.”
The 25-year-old rider faced a number of challenges for the rest of the season, illness forcing him to miss Tour de Suisse, and then he abandoned the Tour de France on stage 14 after suffering an injury from a collision with road furniture. Previous back issues returned at the end of the season, forcing another DNF, this time at Il Lombardia.
"I've had a pretty tough season, but it's nice that I can say afterwards: 'As difficult as it was, but I did win the Amstel Gold Race.' And that against Pogačar and Evenepoel. No one will ever be able to take that away from me.”
