After two months off, Skjelmose returns with a bang in grueling mountain race in Andorra

As mentioned, the first edition was somewhat disrupted. Originally, a longer race was planned, but two gravel sections were removed from the course so the riders could start 1 hour earlier. “We hope to avoid the storm that has been forecast for the afternoon,” said the organization on the morning of the event. This left 115 kilometers of racing, with the start just before noon local time.

With Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), who has recovered from illness, home rider Enric Mas (Movistar), and Andorra resident Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) at the start, the organizers had no reason to complain about a lack of interest. Pidcock put in some more kilometers after his participation in the Giro d'Italia and the now much-discussed images from RedBull, in which the British rider hung onto a motorcycle at 115 kilometers per hour and drifted down a descent.

Despite the shorter race, the riders still had to cover 3,500 meters of elevation gain in a short period of time. From the start, it was a climb to an altitude of 2,400 meters, as the Port d'Envalira was on the program. On the 27-kilometer climb, the race was on as a strong leading group pulled away, including Jardi-Christiaan van der Lee (EF Education - EasyPost) and Odd Christian Eiking (Unibet Tietema Rockets). But such a group often doesn't get much leeway in a one-day race.

That was also the case this time. The difference was less than two minutes at the top of the first climb, and then it quickly decreased. With 45 kilometers to go, it was over: the last breakaway riders were caught by the peloton, which still had about 30 to 40 riders. Things remained calm on the Coll d'Ordino, so the riders headed for the Coll de la Comella, the day's penultimate climb. Davide Formolo tried to break away, but the Italian from Movistar was quickly caught by the Lidl-Trek team.

In the tricky descent, which was also wet, riders from the American team signaled that the pace had to be slowed down. The peloton, therefore, made its way at a steady pace to the Coll de la Botella, the last climb of the day. Julien Bernard was the last man in front of leader Mattias Skjelmose: he managed to thin out the group of favorites to about 15 riders. The final climb was not very steep, but the final kilometers were the most difficult. With 6 kilometers to go, the Dane accelerated.

It was impressive: only Enric Mas (Movistar) managed to follow. Cristián Rodríguez (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Sebastian Berwick (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) managed to get back, but Pidcock had been dropped behind them. However, the pace at the front was not very high, so a second group could almost catch up. Berwick did not want that to happen and accelerated, which meant that Skjelmose had to drop back. Was he too worn out?

Mas and Rodríguez could hang on, but the trio didn't give each other much. Meanwhile, Skjelmose had paced himself perfectly: with 2 kilometers to go, he rejoined the leaders. Even Esteban Chaves (EF Education - EasyPost) managed to get back, so we entered the last kilometer with five riders. It came down to a sprint, and Skjelmose showed his explosiveness. He beat Rodríguez and Mas and won.