The rider

Toms Skujiņš is Lidl-Trek's adult in the room, which is not the same as being boring. The Latvian has become one of the peloton's most beloved riders because he combines tactical clarity with visible joy, but inside the team his role is profoundly serious. He reads wind, mood and momentum, then translates that into positioning before panic spreads. For a roster juggling Ayuso's GC debut, Pedersen's points chase and multiple protected climbers, that kind of road captaincy is essential.

His 2026 nearly lost its shape when illness at Paris-Nice disrupted a spring classics campaign he had rarely missed in more than a decade. The Tour, though, is familiar territory: this is his eighth appearance, and few riders are better at understanding how a stage will feel before the decisive move appears. Skujiņš can still slip into breakaways, still punch over rolling climbs, and still make a finale messy enough for stronger riders to regret underestimating him.

The most important work may be invisible. He will tell younger teammates where to be, calm the group after a bad moment, and make sure Lidl-Trek do not spend unnecessary energy chasing the wrong problem. Every ambitious Tour squad needs stars, but it also needs someone who can preserve collective intelligence when the peloton is tired, hot and anxious. Skujiņš is that rider. If Lidl-Trek look organized in week three, his fingerprints will be all over it.