Nearly all Tour favorites head to the Dauphiné, but not Skjelmose: Lidl-Trek explains why

So, if you look at the start list for the Critérium du Dauphiné, you will see many top riders for the upcoming Tour de France. UAE Emirates-XRG has Pogacar, Visma | Lease a Bike has Vingegaard, Soudal Quick-Step has Evenepoel, Bahrain Victorious has both Lenny Martinez and Santiago Buitrago, INEOS Grenadiers has Carlos Rodríguez, and Movistar has Enric Mas. At Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Primoz Roglic is not present after his unfortunate Giro d'Italia, but why is Lidl-Trek without a lead rider?

Looking at the seven riders in the German-American team, there don't seem to be any ambitions for the GC. With Jonathan Milan, they have the man to beat in the stages that end in a sprint, and Toms Skujins and Jasper Stuyven also have attacking options for the more difficult stages. Julien Bernard, Simone Consonni, Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier, and Edward Theuns complete the Lidl-Trek line-up, but the absence of Mattias Skjelmose is striking. The Dane had been lined up for the Dauphiné for some time but was withdrawn at the last minute.

So the question is: why did Lidl-Trek leave its lead rider Skjelmose at home? This media outlet asked the team, and a response followed on Friday. "He was a little ill after the altitude training camp, so the decision was made to give him more time to recover," Lidl-Trek told IDLProCycling.com.

Skjelmose will, therefore, take a little more rest than initially planned, after which he will head to the Tour de Suisse. The Dane has already had a lot of success in that race. He competed in it for the first time in 2023, finishing the eight-day event with a stage win and the overall victory. However, there was a dark cloud hanging over the race, as Gino Mäder crashed in the fifth stage and later died from his injuries. A year later, Skjelmose competed in the Tour de Suisse again, finishing third three times and also third in the overall standings. He won the jersey for the best young rider.