Can Mattias Skjelmose repeat his Amstel Gold Race masterclass?

Mattias Skjelmose produced one of 2025's most surprising results when he won the Amstel Gold Race in a sprint against Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogačar. So how is the Dane shaping up ahead of his title defence on Sunday? Team director Kim Andersen gave an update to Danish outlet Feltet.

Skjelmose's 2026 season has been reasonably smooth, despite a wrist inflammation in March that forced him to change his programme. The 25-year-old climber had initially been pencilled in for Paris-Nice but raced the Tour of Catalonia instead, where he finished seventh. A month later he came fourteenth place at the Tour of the Basque Country.

Decent results, but not quite up to the 2025 Skjelmose, who finished fifth in the Basque Country. Andersen stressed, however, that his team leader was not fully fit towards the end of the race. "He's doing well. It was a tough Tour of the Basque Country, but Mattias enjoyed it — apart from one day where he lost 18 minutes."

"We don't know exactly what happened on that fifth stage. He was simply exhausted," Andersen said. The Dane's body gave the answer after the race. "He picked up a cold after the harsh conditions in the Basque Country. But there are still a few days to go before the Amstel Gold Race, so we hope he recovers fully."

"Not ideal," the Danish team director acknowledged, but the underlying form is there. "We're convinced of that. On his good days in the Basque Country, he was right there with the best. The combination of Catalonia and the Basque Country is different from other years, but we believe he's at the right level. We've made our plan for the Amstel, but I'm not going to reveal it here."

Without Pogačar but with Evenepoel, the Amstel Gold Race start list still has plenty of firepower. "The start list doesn't look bad at all. We've got Evenepoel and Tom Pidcock, but I think we're on a level with the rest. It should be a great race," Andersen concluded.

Lidl-Trek will also line up on Sunday with Søren Kragh Andersen, Quinn Simmons and Bauke Mollema, among others.