‘They used tactics that weren’t exactly fair’ - Skjelmose says Ineos and Bahrain were unhappy with his Vuelta breakaway

Mattias Skjelmose had no intention of joining the breakaway on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España. When the opportunity presented itself almost for free, however, there was little reason to turn it down.

“It wasn’t the plan, but if you get away for free, you might as well take it,” Skjelmose told TV 2 Sport after the finish.

The Lidl-Trek leader started the day seventh overall and suddenly found himself in a huge group of 43 riders while the peloton slowed behind.

Skjelmose said he realised the move could become significant near the bottom of a descent, when his group bridged across without having to spend much energy.

“I was told they were just trying to block the road behind, so I thought I would see what happened,” he said. “I wanted to use as little energy as possible and see how much I could get out of it.”

His presence was not welcomed by everyone in the breakaway.

Asked whether he would have preferred to be in the front group that eventually fought for the stage win, Skjelmose said some riders had made things difficult for him.

“I think there were some riders who weren’t too happy that I was there, and they used some tactics that weren’t exactly fair,” Skjelmose said. “Ineos and Bahrain were a bit unhappy, but they could just ride away if they had a problem with it.”

Skjelmose missed the decisive selection and was left in the larger chasing group, where his priority became taking as much time as possible on the general classification contenders.

He also suggested that Ineos continued to make life difficult for the break from behind.

“I only started taking proper turns when we reached the flat section,” Skjelmose said. “I tried to get some of the others, Berthet and Rodriguez, to work as much as possible. I tried to do my part, but as I understand it, there was a Ineos rider doing suicide pulls behind. Then it’s difficult to do much more.”

Skjelmose eventually gained just over two minutes on the group containing the main GC favourites. It was not enough to gain a place in the general classification, however, with the Dane remaining seventh overall.

Still, it was a useful return from a move that had never been part of the plan.

“But we’ll take the 2:15,” he concluded.