What’s the mood like at Lidl-Trek after media spat between Ayuso and Skjelmose? "That’s when things got messy," says team boss

“It was a bit of a strange situation,” said Skjelmose shortly after the announcement of Ayuso's transfer. “The team never officially notified me, even though I knew about it pretty quickly. I found that a bit strange.” That didn't necessarily seem to cause a stir within Lidl-Trek, which recently announced that Lidl had acquired a majority stake in the team.

“It will be exciting, a new challenge,” said Skjelmose. “I'm relying on what the team has told me, which is that they believe in me. I don't know if Ayuso's arrival has anything to do with that. They've been saying for a few years that they want to build a team around me, but I don't think they brought him in as a domestique. We'll see what happens.”

It was the words that followed that caused more surprise. “If Ayuso finds it difficult to ride for Tadej Pogacar at UAE, then I don't know if he'll want to help me at all when it comes down to it. We have the same goals. Of course, it could be that he didn't enjoy his time at UAE. I don't really know him, so I don't know what happened at that team.”

When Ayuso was confronted with Skjelmose's words, he sounded understanding. “I understand some of it. If the team tells you you're the leader, I can understand a certain level of frustration. But I think this is a natural development for Lidl-Trek, which invests so much and is ambitious,” said the Spaniard.

The former UAE rider realized that his new team would not only play the Skjelmose card. “It's normal for a super team to have several good riders. UAE, Visma, and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe also have many classification riders. You can't be a super team with just one leader. I can't say much more about it because I don't know Mattias personally. We'll see how things go between us.”

In conversation with Feltet, team boss Kim Andersen reflects on the incident. “He was very, very well received,” says the Danish team leader about Ayuso’s arrival. Andersen understands that his riders didn’t handle the situation well. “It was put together in such a way that something was taken from one place and something from another, and part of it was poorly translated into English.”

“That turned it into a mess, which ultimately resulted in something that wasn’t very smart,” Andersen reflects. “But we’ve started something new and that’s very positive,” the Dane seems to be putting it behind him. He assures us that both riders are on good terms with each other. “There’s no reason why it should be any different. None of them knew each other.”

“They were competitors until now, but that's just how professional sports are,” Andersen continues. “You're competitors until you become teammates. And it's all about adapting. It's going to be very exciting,” says the Dane, who also indicated that no agreements have yet been made about the riders' programs. To be continued, no doubt!