Ayuso understands Skjelmose’s frustration, but his comment about Pogacar surely fires up Lidl-Trek

“It was a bit of a strange situation. The team never officially notified me, despite my awareness of the situation quite early on. I found that a bit strange,” Skjelmose said about Ayuso's arrival. “I'm going by what the team has told me, which is that they believe in me. I don't know if Ayuso's arrival has anything to do with that.”

“They've been saying for a few years that they want to build a team around me, but I don't think they brought him in as a domestique. We'll see what happens,” he continued. “If Ayuso finds it difficult to ride for Tadej Pogacar at UAE, then I don't know if he'll want to help me at all when it comes down to it. We have the same goals.”

When Ayuso was confronted with Skjelmose's comments by Danish outlet Feltet at the start of the European Championships on Sunday morning, he expressed understanding: "I do understand some parts of it. If the team tells you that you are the leader, then I can understand a certain frustration. But I think this is a natural development for Lidl-Trek, which invests so much and is ambitious."

According to Ayuso, Skjelmose cannot be the only card to play. “It's normal for a super team to have several good riders. UAE Emirates-XRG, Visma | Lease a Bike, and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe also have many classification riders. You can't be a super team with just one leader. I can't say much more about it because I don't know Mattias personally. We'll see how things go between us.”

Why did Lidl-Trek sign Ayuso? In addition to his 23 years of age, 16 victories to his name, and already one third place in the Vuelta a España, his comments to Cycling Pro ahead of the European Championships will only make people more enthusiastic. In a two-minute interview, Ayuso indicated that he is not afraid of Tadej Pogacar and his team, as he had already demonstrated at the World Championships by boldly following the Slovenian.

That led to a big explosion at the time, but Ayuso does not seem willing to accept Pogacar's hegemony, now or in the future. “We have seen a few moments where Pogacar was caught when he rode away. If you want to win, you have to follow him. That's difficult, but if you race to win, you have to follow his wheel. And if you explode, then you explode.”