From Meeus and Merlier to the (surprising return of) Skjelmose and Almeida: these riders are ready for the Tour de France

Sunday afternoon was dominated by the conclusion of the Giro NextGen for U23 riders and the new one-day race in Andorra. Skjelmose, somewhat surprisingly, won the race from a group of four. The 24-year-old Dane from Lidl-Trek is a regular winner, but illness had kept him out of competition for two months.

There was little sign of that in Andorra. Skjelmose beat Cristián Rodriguez, Enric Mas, and Esteban Chaves, giving him a huge confidence boost ahead of the Tour de France, his main goal for the year. “I've been ill for a long time and missed the Dauphiné and the Tour de Suisse as a result. Fortunately, I could race here, and I think I'm in good shape for the Tour.”

Winning immediately after a period of physical setbacks is usually reserved for the very best. Skjelmose remained calm. “I felt good, and the team did a perfect job. I rode at my own pace and knew it would come down to a sprint. The Tour is, of course, a completely different race, but after today, I am more confident of a good Tour. I'm looking forward to it.”

After Andorra, we headed to Copenhagen, where a Belgian won the Copenhagen Sprint. Jordi Meeus abandoned the Tour de Suisse after the sixth stage to sprint in Denmark. “I've just come from Switzerland, but we had some injured riders, and because it was all climbing there, we decided to come here. I think it was a good choice,” winked the 26-year-old sprinter in the flash interview.

It was a much-needed win for Meeus, who isn't sure of participation in the Tour de France yet. “I was feeling a bit tired after six tough days of racing in Switzerland, but I still had some energy left,” he said. “My team and some other teams did a great job. It was a really tough finish, but I'm happy I was able to win. I knew there was a headwind, and I had to hope that some gaps would open up for me. That happened perfectly.”

There was also a Belgian victory in the Baloise Belgium Tour, the second in five days for Tim Merlier. The Soudal-Quick Step sprinter has been on fire all year and again confirmed his excellent form ahead of the Tour. “I'm just going to keep working hard, not doing anything too special. Compared to last year, I feel a little fresher when I came out of the Giro. But definitely not too fresh,” he told HLN.

In the Tour de Suisse, we saw the final stage on Sunday, with a climb time trial in which the stage and overall victory were still up for grabs. Almeida lived up to his role as favorite on behalf of UAE, beating Kévin Vauquelin in his leader's jersey by 1.40 minutes in a 10-kilometer climb time trial. The Portuguese rider needed only 33 seconds to crown himself the overall winner convincingly. “I had a long way to go because a mistake on day 1 cost me three minutes,” he said about his comeback.

Almeida turned it around by pushing hard every day and ultimately winning three stages. “I'm super happy with my time trial; I felt really good. For a moment, I thought my power meter wasn't calibrated properly because it was showing really high numbers. I'm super happy with that. We fought for the victory and always believed in it. We did it, even though I started a little too fast.”

“In the end, this has been an important lesson,” Almeida said of his huge time loss on the first day, which meant he seemed unable to compete for the overall victory for a long time. “You should never give up because things can always go wrong, and nothing is perfect. We kept fighting, and now I will enjoy it for a while. Then I'll support Tadej (Pogacar, ed.) in the Tour de France. Hopefully, we'll win even more there.”