It's cool to see Skjelmose did so well in the Tour after he's been a source of so much frustration earlier in the race (and the season). I hope someday one of my own talents will have a similar race, guessing how satisfying this must be!
Very very special race for you, huge moment in team history and in MSJ's young career. I know what an awesome feeling a big breakthrough race is like that for a home-grown talent, and even if it was ahead of my guy I definitely enjoyed watching it
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [PT] Xero Racing
Fantastic tour for you. Wouldnt be the biggest surprise if he would get further days in yellow a couple years down the line
I think Skjelmose obviously has a lot of work to do before he is a legitimate yellow jersey contender, but this year very encouraging. It seems like his low stamina is not as big of an issue in the mountains as I anticipated if we stick to races with shorter stages. He can end up in the conversation if we invest enough.
It's cool to see Skjelmose did so well in the Tour after he's been a source of so much frustration earlier in the race (and the season). I hope someday one of my own talents will have a similar race, guessing how satisfying this must be!
Yes, it has definitely been up and down all year, but this high is worth it! Besides hunting white jerseys, I planned his calendar a bit to fill Kamna's old hilly TT stage race role, and it turns out that's not something he can really do in this version. But, he's instead a more adequate stage racer than I imagined when the AI actually chooses to care about him, which is obviously preferred. Evenpoel and Plapp are better in those hilly TT races anyway.
Still, like Carthy last year, it's clear his points are gonna be inflated from one amazing race this year, so I could expect a step back from him even with significant training. The time losses in the first week were very discouraging, we just came out right in the end.
Skjelmose having the race of his life so far and putting the relegation doubts away for the season must be a great feeling!
Yup, I legitimately couldn't believe how much he scored in the end by holding white and yellow for all those days. Suddenly I'm wishing I made a team standings top 10 goal again instead of punting it with "Win PT." And strangely, I'm now very nervous for the top 10 Vuelta goal when I thought I would have no chance of a top 10 at the TDF!
Very very special race for you, huge moment in team history and in MSJ's young career. I know what an awesome feeling a big breakthrough race is like that for a home-grown talent, and even if it was ahead of my guy I definitely enjoyed watching it
I think Skjelmose and Olivier ended up having pretty similar races in a lot of ways, it's just that Skjelmose actually getting into yellow from his break helped him stay in position in the peloton in the second half and ultimately sneak into the top 5. But some very fun battles!
Indeed, very cool to have a homegrown leader doing stuff like this. Really never had it in all my 13 years in the game until now. Just feels like he was meant to thrive in Carlsberg green.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
After a couple of lighter years, Carlsberg spent last offseason prioritizing the signing of young talents. The objective was more quantity than quality, to be clear—there are no Skjelmoses here. Instead the goal was to establish the next wave of a regional core that can form the foundation of the team over the next decade, as the core established in the late 2010's consisting of riders like Gregaard, Eg, Resell, Krigbaum, and Sulvaran enter the latter stages of their careers. Let's see how successful the team has been so far.
Tilen Finkst
Fighter - 4 > Max - Age 31 - Pot. 3
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2025
76
62
69
67
72
71
68
71
70
73
70
73
66
2026
77
62
69
67
73
71
69
72
72
75
70
73
66
Calling Tilen Finkst a revelation would probably be a bit dramatic given his status as a late blooming, short term domestique, but after he single handedly delivered Asbjorn Kragh Andersen to two stage victories in the Vuelta a Espana, his stock has been on the rise. He's an all around fighter, but this year it was determined that he would provide the most value training his sprint so he's best equipped to play that leadout role going forward and potentially mix in some attacks of his own. This choice will also hopefully keep his wages down a bit, though we're sure he'll hope for a good payday given his short earning potential.
Robin Juel Skivild
Stage Racer - 4 > Max - Age 25 - Pot. 5
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2025
66
74
71
71
70
74
69
57
58
68
64
68
73
2026
67
76
72
73
72
75
71
57
58
68
64
68
75
Robin joined Carlsberg from Sauber last year, and it's safe to say he's been right at home. Robin is a traditional stage racer, and it was never a question whether he would stick with that path as he maximizes his talents. He spent the year learning from the likes of Niklas Eg, and he's the heir apparent to that role of a stage racer who can support his leaders and soak up minor points throughout a full calendar. Look for him to shepherd Skjelmose for many years to come.
Tobias Lund Andresen
Sprinter - 3 > 4 - Age 24 - Pot. 5
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2025
69
56
60
60
70
70
68
61
75
76
57
63
61
2026
71
57
61
60
72
71
73
63
78
78
57
64
61
Lund Andresen is a pure sprinter. Nothing fancy here—no ability to survive climbs, or secret TT ability, or the chance to win a mild cobbled classic. He's a sprinter through and through. But he's going to be quite the fast sprinter at his peak, and every team can use that. Already next year, at 24, he will be ready to act as a leader for flat stages in certain stage races and try to snag some results on his own. With AKA retiring, those opportunities should be plentiful.
Lewis Askey
Cobbles - 3 > 4 - Age 25 - Pot. 4
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2025
68
63
70
58
71
66
70
74
67
73
60
67
67
2026
70
63
71
58
73
68
71
76
69
74
61
67
67
Carlsberg are always looking to add young classics riders into the fold, and they jumped on the opportunity to bring Lewis Askey in last winter. Askey will never be a world beater, and he's a bit of specialist that won't be too much help in non-cobbled classics. But Askey is plenty versatile in his own way, as he has a decent kick and can climb serviceably. For that reason, there was a bit of a tough decision about whether to focus on his punch or sprint in training this year. The team ultimately went with the latter on balance, but that may change next year.
Jeremias Arenas Rodriguez
Climber - 1 > 3 - Age 24 - Pot. 5
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2025
67
66
66
59
69
70
68
54
52
62
67
70
54
2026
67
70
69
60
71
72
71
54
52
64
69
70
55
Carlsberg may have screwed up a bit with Jeremias by signing him as a stagiare in 2024 and thus slow-playing his development a bit, since the new MGUCI training regiments will mean he does not end up quite as versatile as he otherwise would have. But Carlsberg are committed to the development of Curacao cycling, and Jeremias will hopefully still be a valuable domestique over the years.
Gustav Wang
Time Trialist - 1 > 3 - Age 23 - Pot. 4
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2025
69
59
70
70
68
69
66
61
63
66
65
65
69
2026
70
63
72
73
71
71
69
61
63
66
65
65
72
Wang is another rider who will be stung a little bit by the new training regulations, though he still hopes to become a strong time trialist that can also survive some hills and make a play in slightly more difficult TT stage races. His anticipated rider type is modeled after former Carlsberg leader Andre Steensen, and the the team will hope the current meta allows such a rider to excel again after a few difficult years for them.
Simon Dalby
Climber - 1 > 3 - Age 23 - Pot. 5
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2025
65
69
69
62
69
67
69
57
55
66
65
67
61
2026
65
73
72
63
71
69
72
57
55
68
67
67
62
Dalby signed a massively overvalued deal last winter, and put another check next to his name as someone hurt by the UCI training regiments. He was already overpaid, but it now seems that he won't be able to reach his full potential as a climber/puncheur hybrid. Still, he's Danish and a on the fast track to being a nice KOM chaser in GTs, if he can make it work over the next few years. He spent the year being blessed at DK Zalgiris, so maybe that will also help.
Carl-Frederik Bevort
Time Trialist - 1 > 3 - Age 23 - Pot. 5
Flat
Mtn
Hill
TT
Sta
Res
Rec
Cob
Spr
Acc
Fig
Dwn
Pro
2025
70
55
63
68
66
69
66
65
66
70
67
60
70
2026
73
55
63
72
68
72
69
65
68
71
67
60
74
If Wang is the punchy versatile time trialist, Bevort is his huge engined, flat beast twin. Both spent the year at the CT team Peugeot, and both will reach about the same level of time trialing ability, though Bevort will be better in prologues. Bevort's secondary duties will be perfectly fitted to life as a leadout man given his ability to set massive pace and also sprint a bit towards the finish. Carlsberg haven't had a pure time trialist since Arturs Belevics, but Bevort should be that and more.
With all these talents in the fold, it remains to be seen whether Carlsberg will double down on this youth focus or turn towards maximizing on the road performance in the next offseason.
Mr. Pickles
Sporting News
Edited by baseballlover312 on 22-05-2026 13:37
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Askey and Andresen will be very good assets for the future The others look to be very useful riders across multiple profiles as well.
Thanks! My development strategy recently is to accept one dimensional leaders but try to develop more versatile domestiques given the race day allocations. Still yet to see whether that works out best!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Love to see all the talents develop and definitely looking forward to see Lund Andresen potentially grabbing a (GT) stage win already somewhere during the next season
You have some nice local future domestiques, but I'll always have a special view on both of your bigger talents Askey and Andresen because of their past in my team. Seeing how he develops I'm really glad we got Andresens 1>3 loan working (and hopefully I won't regret it once he starts beating my sprinters ). And Askey will keep learning from one of the bests on his terrain to make him a good lieutenant at least.
Love to see all the talents develop and definitely looking forward to see Lund Andresen potentially grabbing a (GT) stage win already somewhere during the next season
With how sprints can be it's definitely not out of the question for Lund to luck into a stage next year, but I'm gonna try to moderate expectations just for now!
You have some nice local future domestiques, but I'll always have a special view on both of your bigger talents Askey and Andresen because of their past in my team. Seeing how he develops I'm really glad we got Andresens 1>3 loan working (and hopefully I won't regret it once he starts beating my sprinters ). And Askey will keep learning from one of the bests on his terrain to make him a good lieutenant at least.
I'm super thankful we got Lund's loan working in the end. Not just so he has another year at max, but because it fits our timing window better with AKA retiring to have him be already at least serviceable next year, which he wouldn't be if he was stuck at lvl. 3 obviously.
A couple of very nice talents in that bunch. Askey in particular is really cool I think.
Yes, think Askey will be a really nice and well rounded lieutenant for us at peak. Think some people got scared off by his resistance, but I'm hopeful that in this engine, it won't be a huge issue for him given his role.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Two years ago, Carlsberg were happy just to survive the PT. Last year, they made a surprising push into the top 10, but it seemed like a fluke. This year, they doubled down with an even greater fluke. At the end of a long season, Carlsberg - Danske Bank have unfathomably entered the top 5 teams in the sport. 5th place in the PT, with a whopping 6951 points.
After Carlsberg's previously covered Tour de France, Carlsberg were prepared for a potential results hangover at the Vuelta a Espana. The objective was a top 10 with Hugh Carthy to achieve a sponsor goal, and that was it. But a combination of luck and form helped Carlsberg go way beyond that goal. With three stage wins—two from Kragh Andersen and one from Spanish champion Alex Aranburu—and a smattering of other placings and classification results, Carlsberg somehow ended up as the best scoring team in the entire race despite Carthy being their best GC rider in 8th place.
That result was enough to catapult Carlsberg, who had been a fringe top 10 team most of the season, onto the virtual podium. It wouldn't last with a few races still to go, but the constant overperformances throughout the year were enough to hold on for 5th place, at least 10 places higher than team management expected at the season's outset.
So, who did this happen? Let's take a look at each terrain, to show how Carlsberg overperformed on each.
Cobbles
Since he signed with them prior to the 2023 season, Carlsberg's success has always started with David Per. This year was no different. There were doubts coming into the year, with increased competition in the PT from improved riders like Hampus Anderberg and Ivan Siric, and both of those riders had good years to finish above 1,000 points. But Per nevertheless remained firm. Though he was regularly second fiddle to Mads Pedersen, Per was remarkably consistent, finishing on the podium of every single cobbles race he entered until his legs finally gave out in his final effort at Strada Appia Antica. Along the way, he also had several victories of individual glory, including Carlsberg' very first monument victory at Ronde Van Vlaanderen.
Carlsberg spent some money last offseason trying to sure up their support of Per and their depth scoring on the terrain, to mixed results. The addition of Milan Menten to Lukas Meiler didn't have as much of an impact as hoped on the total scoring because Carlsberg was often forced to use its team strength early to keep races together, burning domestiques. Still, one can't argue with the substantial results for Per.
Stage Races
Last year's biggest overperformer was Hugh Carthy's, whose dramatic Giro d'Italia breakaway earned him 2nd overall and the KOM jersey in shocking fashion. Everyone knew that he would regress this year, the question was just by how much. In the end, it was a lot. Because Skjelmose was U25 eligible and Carthy has time trialing limitations, the team decided to send Carthy to two GTs and let the young Danish youngster cover the shorter races. While this strategy worked overall, it was not great for Carthy, who had a fairly anonymous season ending with only 467 points, down from 1,062 in 2024.
Ultimately, however, this didn't matter to Carlsberg for two reasons. First, Mattias Skjelmose Jensen had an insane U25 campaign. After a rough start to the season, where he inexplicably dropped off the main peloton to shelter his sprinters on multiple occasions, Skjelmose came alive halfway through the Vuelta a Colombia and never stopped. His magnificent Tour de France has already been detailed here, but the fact that he ended up with 965 points, in the top 25 of the PT standings, basically entirely made up for Carthy's drop off.
Then there's the wildcard. Last offseason, Jonas Vingegaard signed a free agent contract for 400,000 euros. Meanwhile, his compatriot and very similar, but less famous, friend, Jonas Gregaard, was still riiding for Carlsberg for just 92,500 euros. It was Gregaard, however, who had the far better year. Those in the know already understood that Gregaard could punch above his class in especially long mountain stages and even hilly classics because of his extreme endurance, but this season he seemed to be on form everywhere he went. Nowhere was this more striking than in GP Liechtenstein, where Gregaard somehow followed Silvio Herklotz and Pavel Sivakov until the very final climb to ultimately finish 3rd. By the end of the year, he somehow had over 500 points—more than Carthy!
Sprints
Carlsberg had a two headed sprint attack last year as well, but it changed a little this time around. Asbjorn Kragh Andersen was finally declining, and Frederik Rodenberg replaced Matthew Walls in an interesting deal at the end of transfers. The results were fairly strong, with AKA finishing just below 600 points, and Rodenberg just below 500.
These scores however, did not accrue gradually. Instead, both riders had some standout performances. For Rodenberg, it was his second place on GC in the Tour of Qatar thanks to consistent sprinting and a great final epilogue. For AKA, it was his his two stage wins in the Vuelta, where he wore the opening yellow jersey and then the conveniently colored green points jersey for the majority of the race (more to come on AKA later in the offseason).
Hills
Alex Aranburu's stocks were pretty down going into the season. Despite major training over the years, Aranburu had never quite reached his potential as a top puncheur hybrid. Some of that was planning, but a lot of it was also due to Aranburu's obvious faults—including his lack of a sprint or acceleration, his questionable endurance, and his weakness on the flats. These doubts were exacerbated by the fact that the new MGUCI rules made endurance much more important, calling into question his ability to function as a true classics leader.
Aranburu defied the odds, putting up by far the best season of his career and 754 points. To be fair, a lot of that can be attributed to his lucky Vuelta, where he took a stage, several more podiums, and a top 20 in GC.
But that success was at least in part by design. Recognizing that Aranburu would never be able to outlast true puncheurs in the classics, the team focused his calendar around races with shorter routes and grueling finishes that catered to his particular skillset. And it worked, not just in the Vuelta, but in other races fitting that profile, such as Fleche Wallonne. While Aranburu will never be an LBL or Lombardia contender, he has shown he still has a strong niche to exploit.
Depth
Carlsberg have always struggled a bit with depth scoring, and nothing really changed that much this year. Because they usually had at least a tertiary contender on all terrains, they didn't get much breakaway action, and there were no spectacular solo victories from unknown riders.
Still, there were bright spots from the team's domestiques. The team brought in Mathias Norsgaard last offseason to at least have a minor option in the mandatory TT races, and he did that job well, securing a top 5 in the Tour de France's final ITT as well as a top 10 on GC in Praha. Mathias Krigbaum also secured the KOM jersey from a break in the team's otherwise disappointing early season adventure in Tasmania.
We reached out to team manager baseballlover312 for comment on the team's season.
"It's hard to believe we're here, finishing top 5 in the Pro Tour. This was our 12th season in the peloton, and we've had highs, but also plenty of lows. Even 3 or 4 years ago I would not have thought this was possible. Especially on this timeline. But our riders came together and played everything perfectly this season. I can really only thank them. I did what I could constructing the roster and planning out the calendars, but ultimately, they executed. So we're celebrating this as if we were in a promotion spot, because for us, that's what this effectively is. Top 5 in our division ascends us to that final level. All that said, we're under no delusions that we can just march everything out the same next year and do it again. Things will not always go right. So I'm ready to get to work and see what needs to be done to put us in the best situation going forward."
Mr. Pickles
Sporting New
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Tilen Finkst 
Robin Juel Skivild 
Lewis Askey 
Jeremias Arenas Rodriguez 
