Mads Pedersen and Mattias Skjelmose battling the same problem at the Vuelta a España

Mads Pedersen and Mattias Skjelmose were both firmly in the mix on days one and two, but the two Danes will undoubtedly have expected more from the opening time trial and the punchy finish that followed. Lidl-Trek's two leaders gave it a go on both days, but neither really came particularly close to victory. According to Pedersen, the Tour de France is still having an impact on his legs.

Pedersen actually produced a perfectly respectable time trial on the opening day, but 15th place, 16 seconds behind winner Tadej Pogačar, was hardly an outstanding result either. The Dane — who won both the green jersey and a stage at the Tour de France — had already mentally given up on taking the red jersey, but made it clear that he intended to go all-in for the stage victory on day two.

Visma | Lease a Bike and Pogačar ultimately made things just a little too difficult for the Lidl-Trek powerhouse on a finish Pedersen had already won on two previous occasions. Wout van Aert attacked together with Pogačar and, once the pair had been brought back, Matthew Brennan was clearly the Visma rider with the strongest sprint left in his legs. The young Brit powered to the victory, while Pedersen had to settle for fourth.

Pedersen finished fourth and admitted to TV2 that he has not yet rediscovered the exceptional legs he had during the Tour de France. "I didn't have my best day. Skjelly [Skjelmose] described it really well; it feels a little like coming back after the winter break. I clearly still need a little time to get going again."

For now, none of that necessarily has to be a major problem. Pedersen was still very much involved at the front of the race during the opening weekend in France. Skjelmose also showed encouraging form, although 40th place in the time trial, 29 seconds behind Pogačar, was not particularly impressive. On day two, however, he finished safely with the front group, unlike several of the other general classification contenders.

With another 19 stages still to come, Lidl-Trek have everything left to race for, potentially starting with the uphill finish on stage three. Skjelmose sits 21st in the general classification, 33 seconds behind Pogačar. The next major GC contender ahead of him in the standings is Primož Roglič of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, who is 26 seconds away from the red jersey.

After two days, Skjelmose is, for example, already better placed than Enric Mas of Movistar and Richard Carapaz of EF Education-EasyPost, who are both 37 seconds down. Decathlon CMA CGM's Felix Gall has also lost time across the opening two stages and is already 1 minute and 8 seconds behind. There is therefore little reason for Lidl-Trek to panic just yet — particularly with Skjelmose targeting the general classification and Pedersen still having plenty of opportunities to chase stage wins as the race develops.