This article was originally published in Issue 117 of Rouleur magazine.
I first met Mattias Skjelmose in the spring of 2018. He was 17 years old, high on life, and in the process of conquering the European junior scene. He had just come third in Paris-Roubaix juniors, and he felt invincible. It went to his head. He was a winner with a great future ahead and he could say anything, because nobody could talk back. He was a jerk.
But something happened which had great consequences for the now 22-year-old, newly engaged, professional rider sitting across from me today at Palmarès cycling café, in northern Copenhagen. Winter darkness has settled outside, his Trek Madone SLR 7, leaning against the counter, has just had new mudguards installed for this season’s wet roads, and Skjelmose has finished his second season with Trek-Segafredo. If you had asked him in the fall of 2018 whether he would be sitting here today talking about his season and his path to turning pro, he would have snorted at you in hurt and anger.
Because something went terribly wrong for the young Skjelmose. He tested positive for a contaminated dietary supplement, ingested accidentally, was sidelined for eight months, and went from cycling every day to partying every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. This is the story of a young man from the traditional working-class neighbourhood of Amagerbro in Copenhagen who has risen to become one of the most highly-rated talents in the men’s WorldTour.
Diligent and introverted
“I’ve never felt a need to be around other people. I didn’t have playdates when I was little. It’s only now I’m older that I can see how it may have been a bit strange. But I’ve never been particularly sociable.”
That’s how Skjelmose describes himself as a child. As a slightly introverted, overweight and shy boy who was neither good at ball games nor very skilled on a bike, he started cycling at 11 because they treated him well at the training sessions in the local cycling club, Amager Cykle Ring, where great Danish names like former Tour de France stage winner Brian Holm cut their teeth. But he was bad, to put it mildly. At age 13, Mattias Skjelmose rode in his first race for licensed riders and was dropped after two kilometres. But that didn’t make him quit. On the contrary.
“The race was 40 kilometres, and I got through it,” he says. “That was completely amazing. It was a huge win to a boy like me, at the time.”
The young Copenhagener…