“I lost control of my body. On Sunday I’ll fight with Pogacar and Van der Poel”

Mattias Skjelmose was forced to retire in the last Fleche Walloon due to the cold, which led to his body going into hypothermia. A truly difficult moment for the Danish runner and captain of Lidl-Trek, who found himself in a truly complicated situation that he had never experienced in his career.

In an interview with WielerFlits Skjelmose revealed what happened on Wednesday: “UAE Team Emirates accelerated early as the hail storm began. I tried to follow them directly and this didn’t allow me to wear my rain jacket, but luckily Toms Skujiņš was already coming towards me. I had to pace myself and I actually felt really good at that moment. At the top of the first pass of the Huy Wall I was able to wear my rain jacket. Except I was so cold then and never warmed up again. I didn’t realize I was hypothermic, even though I was shaking. When I decided to withdraw on the second pass I lost control of my body. It was one of the most unpleasant moments of my life.”

The Lidl-Trek runner again: “I had never had these symptoms of hypothermia. I’ve never had any problems with the cold either. In fact, I’ve always wanted it. Last year I made a big step forward together with our nutritionist towards the success in the Tour of Switzerland ranking. I lost a lot of weight, because we found this helped in very hot weather. The Arrow was the first time in very cold weather conditions and I discovered that losing weight in these conditions leads to the opposite result.”

Skjelmose also speaks of the difficult preparation for Liège-Bastogne-Liège: “On Thursday we reconnoitered the last 95 kilometers of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Even though I only ran half a race on Wednesday, my body felt like I had run a monument. I had muscle pain, but I ended up feeling much better just three hours later.”

On his chances at Liège: “I am really convinced that on Sunday in Liège I will fight for the podium. I see myself on the podium there with Tadej and Mathieu, but we’ll see what order it will be in on Sunday.”