Why unfortunate Mauro Schmid, touted as a rising star, has not raced a single minute for his new team

To say Schmid is a man of potential is an understatement. In his first year in the WorldTour, he immediately won a grueling stage in the Giro d'Italia and dominated the following year with an overall victory in the highly competitive Baloise Belgium Tour. In his second year with Soudal-Quick Step, he further discovered himself not only as a stage raider but also as a GC rider. He finished fifth in the Tour Down Under, won the Coppi e Bartali, and just missed out on the top ten in the Tour of the Basque Country.

Jayco-AlUla had seen enough and signed the Swiss rider for three seasons. "The team has every confidence that he can develop into one of the best classification riders for the future," the accompanying press release boldly stated. "We believe he is best suited to one-week stage races and one-day classics."

So much for the good news, because after successfully completing an initial team camp with Jayco-AlUla in December, problems began in January at the second training camp. Team director Valerio Piva tells IDLProCycling.com that it was a knee injury. "At first, it wasn't a major issue, but day by day, it got worse. Eventually, we had to cut his training camp short, and then began the long search for the cause. He underwent a lot of treatment, though he never had surgery. He had to stop training and rest. Now, the situation is under control."

A somewhat general explanation that calls for further detail, which Piva doesn't really have. "We still don't know. He went skiing in December and came back with a minor knee problem. In January, it worsened progressively. He was not happy and was stressed about the situation. So were we, because we had signed him as an important new leader. Initially, we thought it was due to the skiing, but he also changed his shoes, bike, and other equipment this winter. So it must have been a combination of factors."

Piva emphasizes that the problems are now a thing of the past and that Schmid has completed a good training block. "We've lost time, though, two months in total, because he just couldn't race. So far, we've had to remove him from every start list, but he'll be starting again in the GP Indurain and then the Tour of the Basque Country. We considered having him start in the Coppi e Bartali as well, but as the defending champion, it wouldn't have been nice if he couldn't perform. So we had him continue training instead."

Perhaps both parties will escape with just a scare, as Schmid's first major goals this winter were set for April. The climbing classics from the Amstel Gold Race to Liège-Bastogne-Liège, now with a question mark behind his name. "He really had to start from zero, so we hope he's ready for the Ardennes in April. Our plan was to use him as the leader there. My experience from the past is that if you miss time at the beginning of the season, you have that energy left at the end. So I'm not worried about that."