Those looking to beat Pogacar need to hear this Skjelmose analysis: "It's a quality not to overthink everything"

Tadej Pogacar seemed unbeatable in 2025, but a few managed to do it anyway. Even in a tough classic such as the Amstel Gold Race, the Slovenian was eventually defeated, and that by none other than Mattias Skjelmose. In conversation with Wieler Revue, the Lidl-Trek Dane explains how he was at the base of "a blessing for the sport" in the Dutch hills.

If you look among Pogacar's 2025 results, you will see lots of 1's and the occasional 2 or 3. In the spring it was quite often a 1, as he managed to win the UAE Tour, Strade Bianche and Tour of Flanders. After a second-place finish in Paris-Roubaix, the world champion focused on the Ardennes, where on April 13 in the Amstel Gold Race... he added a 2.

That was thanks to Skjelmose. The Dane went to the line together with Pogi and Remco Evenepoel and surprised almost everyone there by winning in the sprint. To get into that scenario, the climber from Copenhagen already had a lot to do. "When Alaphilippe attacked, I was somewhat blocked by Ben Healy," Skjelmose remembers.

"Afterwards, I missed the connection by five meters," the Lidl-Trek rider continued with his flashback. "That was partly because I decided not to ride myself over the top. In hindsight, that was the right tactic." The Dane won, but how well did he actually follow through on that 13th of April? "Obviously I had a very good day, but purely in terms of feeling I've had better days in 2025."

That good feeling caused Skjelmose to be in control, such as on the last ascent of the Cauberg. "I think Remco mainly rode tempo there and didn't necessarily try to drop us. We were all relying on our sprint." The Dane was therefore not nervou. "Why should I be? I just wanted to ride my best possible sprint and then I would finish first, second or third."

It all sounds very down-to-earth, and it actually is. "It's a quality of not overthinking everything," Skjelmose says aptly. "I was mostly concerned with what I had to do and didn't think about the size of the race and what a great opportunity it was for me to beat two of the best riders in the world."

A little gambling was also something the rider from Copenhagen could do. "The gap with the chasers was big enough, which allowed me to play the game by not always pulling. I have no idea how many watts I kicked in the sprint, but I can say it wasn't very impressive. It had been such a tough course that we were all on the limit."

The seemingly unbeatable Pogacar was then beaten on "his" field after all, and that caused a lot of reactions. "That I won has given hope to other riders in the peloton. People came up to me and said it was a blessing for the sport," Skjelmose remembers.

Despite the fact that the Lidl-Trek Dane is looking back on a difficult season, in which he had to abandon in the Tour de France, the Amstel Gold Race really is on his palmares now. "It's nice that afterwards I can say, "No matter how difficult it was, but I did win the Amstel Gold Race." And that against Pogacar and Evenepoel. No one will ever be able to take that away from me again."