Mattias Skjelmose claimed the third stage of the Tour de Suisse to grab the leader’s yellow jersey.
On a wet road, the Trek-Segafredo rider held off world champion Remco Evenepoel on the final climb in the Vaud Alps. Skjelmose finished three seconds ahead of Felix Gall of AG2R, with Juan Ayuso of UAE Team Emirates third at 12sec and Evenepoel fourth after the 144km ride between Tafers and Villars-sur-Ollon.
The Dane took the leader’s jersey from Stefan Kung, and holds a 17-second lead on Evenepoel, who has not yet found his best form a month after having to pull out of the Giro d’Italia with Covid while leading the race.
“I had a really big question mark about my climbing abilities,” Skjelmose said. “Ok, this is not the hardest mountain stage, but it’s still a really long climb, and I did really good. I think we can put a little bit smaller question mark at least.”
“I wasn’t sure if Remco was playing games or if he was on the limit,” Skjelmose said. “I was a little bit more worried about Felix, because when he attacked, he went really fast.”
The battle of the young guns is won by Mattias Skjelmose! ??
The latest young Dane to take the sport by storm wins Stage 3 of the Tour of Switzerland – and takes the overall lead ?#TourdeSuisse2023 | @TrekSegafredo | @skjelmose_ pic.twitter.com/zZu4RsmK0S
— Eurosport (@eurosport) June 13, 2023
