Skjelmose and Paris-Nice remain a difficult match: Dane forced to skip the race

Lidl-Trek looked ready to arrive with real firepower. Ayuso already won the Volta ao Algarve earlier this season, and with Skjelmose alongside him the team would have had two genuine general classification options. Add in the likes of Mathias Vacek and Lennard Kämna, and you have the ingredients for a very strong week. But losing Skjelmose so close to the start is a significant blow.

The 25-year-old Dane is understandably frustrated. “I’m disappointed to miss Paris-Nice, a race I was really looking forward to,” he wrote on social media. “But I have tenosynovitis (inflammation of the tendon sheath lining) in my right wrist and I’ll have to skip the race as a precaution, so the team and I can put recovery first and focus on the next goals.”

Paris-Nice would have been Skjelmose’s third race of the year, after the Faun-Ardèche Classic and Faun Drôme Classic. He has started Paris-Nice three times before, with mixed outcomes. His best memories are likely from 2024, when he won stage 6 ahead of Brandon McNulty and Matteo Jorgenson, before finishing fourth overall.