Skjelmose produces 'time trial of his life' as Ayuso admits he was 'off his level'

There were mixed feelings within the Lidl-Trek camp after stage 16 of the Tour de France, with Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) describing his ride as the time trial of his life, while Juan Ayuso (Lidl-Trek) admitted he was really off his level. 

The third and final week kicked off with a 26.1km individual time trial from Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains featuring a near 10-kilometre opening climb, a technical descent and a fast run-in to the finish.

It was always going to be a crucial stage for the GC contenders with Ayuso and Skjelmose sitting sixth and seventh respectively ahead of the start, and it would ultimately prove to be a day of contrasting emotions for Lidl-Trek's two-pronged GC challenge.

Skjelmose stormed around the course, crossing the finish line with the third fastest time, 1:04 behind stage winner Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), a performance that left him very satisfied.

“I’m super happy. I rode the time trial of my life. I made a bet by going so hard. I didn’t believe I could make it to the top," Skjelmose told media, including Feltet, at the finish. 

"It was all or nothing, I just had one of those days where I could keep going. So I’m enormously satisfied,” he added. 

As the intermediate times continued to confirm his position among the fastest riders on the day, Skjelmose realised he was on an exceptional day, helping him to push through the pain barrier.

“When I consistently had the best intermediate time, I started to think about it. But my legs also hurt. I joked a little that I could hear colours at the end. I was really far away. I didn’t think about much else other than getting to the finish line first.”

Meanwhile, Ayuso finished fifteenth on the stage, 2:22 behind Evenepoel, and given his pedigree in the discipline with four professional time trial victories, Ayuso struck a disappointed figure at the finish.

“Yeah, I was just not feeling well and really off my level, but it's like this sometimes,”  Ayuso told media including Eurosport. “I mean, it's hard because, as I say, to be on the podium, you can't mess, and I've messed already two days. 

“So obviously it makes things harder, but there are still two really hard days and two other days that a lot of things happen,” he added. 

Despite being critical of his own performance, Ayuso reiterated his full focus ahead of a crucial final week, and highlighted Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Jonas Vingegaard’s (Visma | Lease a Bike) crashes over the past two stages as an illustration that the race dynamics can flip in an instant.

“We saw unfortunately with Jonas and also today with Florian, everything can change in a second, so we have to keep focused and keep on trying.”

With Lipowitz abandoning the race after a crash in the time trial, Ayuso and Skjelmose have both moved up one place in the GC, to fifth and sixth respectively. Ayuso trails Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in third by 2:31, with Skjelmose 3:23 behind the Mexican champion as the race for the podium heats up.