The loveable Latvian took his second national TT title ahead of teammate Emils Liepins
Although Latvia is not a large cycling nation – though its World Tour presence has significantly grown in recent years – Toms Skujins still faced solid competition on his way to winning the race against the clock. His closest opponent was fellow Trek-Segafredo rider Emils Liepins, just 35 seconds back from Skujins’ winning time of 39’08” on the 32.7km course in the Latvian capital, Riga. It was far from plain sailing, as Toms explains:
“I wish the race had been a bit more straightforward but luckily I could still win. I had a mishap with two bike changes because of a mechanical but it made an exciting race for the fans to follow. It would be super cool if I get the chance to show off the Latvian flag in a couple of stages of the Tour, and maybe if I win the road race I would be able to display it for 21 stages! I’m very, very happy, I felt really good. With the bike changes if I hadn’t have been feeling up to par I would definitely not have been able to pull it off. But yeah, I felt good, felt fast and the legs were great. I’m looking forward to the road race now.”
Keep an eye out this Sunday to see if Toms is able to regain the road race title, or will Emils steal the show?
