Walloon Arrow 2025, Skjelmose's mea culpa: "I made an amateur mistake"

Rome, 24 April 2025 - From the stars, unexpected ones at that, to the stables: the first part of the Ardennes Triptych di Mattias Skjelmose there was no middle ground. Surprise victory at the Amstel Gold Race 2025, beating none other than Tadej pogacar e Remco Evenepoel, and slipped to the Walloon Arrow 2025: more than a day after the crime, the Dane returns to talk about what happened in Belgium, between regrets and sighs of relief for their physical conditions.  

Skjelmose's statements

  The runner of Lidl Trek he expressed both feelings to the microphones of TV2 sports, starting from his medical report. "I have some bruises and abrasions, but everything is fine. I thought it was much worse when I was lying there. I didn't feel very good: I think it was a combination of the blow and the cold." Speaking of cold, a bit of a common ailment yesterday in Huy. Despite his Nordic origins, a year ago Skjelmose became - against his will - the protagonist of a viral image: the beginning, if not something more, of frostbite, which practically blocked him on his bike, forcing his sports directors to unseat him by force to avoid worse consequences. Even in that case, despite the power of the videos, the situation was resolved with a great fright and little more, just like today. After the sigh of relief, for Skjelmose it's time to try to reconstruct what happened in the race that would later reward pogacar. "I think I made the number one mistake of beginners in the rain. We came out of the curve and went over the white lines. At that moment I pedaled a little too fast and the rear wheel slipped. It was just a mistake of a child." A twist that overturned the plans of the Lidl Trek, which however, through gritted teeth, strongly aimed at Thibau Nys, who not coincidentally would have finished with a good eighth place. "There are no excuses: it was my mistake and I'm so sorry I couldn't help the team, because I felt really good".

Arkéa-B&B Hotels heading for bankruptcy?

  Second place, as already happened last year, went to Kevin Vauquelin, the star of aArkea-B&B Hotels increasingly worried about her own fate, as confessed by the team manager Emmanuel Hubert to the microphones of Le Parisien. "The contracts with our sponsors expire at the end of the 2025 and if I don't have the certainty that these agreements will be extended I don't know who I can rely on for the future. As a team we have to find 25 million and if I don't succeed, it will all end. We are on the road to failure. I have been a team manager for twenty years, I know cycling like the back of my hand and I have built this team with blood, sweat and tears". A situation that is clear to the riders. "I have been honest with them, without hiding anything. If they receive another offer, I will be the first to tell them to go. I am not here to hold them back, on the contrary. I want them to have options too, even if I must admit that as a team manager it is never easy to accept this".

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