Toms Skujins finishes 4th and Quinn Simmons wins the KOM jersey after the team goes on the offensive in the race around Baltimore
Nothing about the race around Baltimore, Maryland played out in a normal manner expected in a race, that at least on paper, tailored the sprinters. A large 25-rider breakaway peeled off in the first kilometers, eventually split, and a group of 12 succeeded to the finish. Toms Skujins and Quinn Simmons were part of the exciting finale.
In Toms’ words
“We wanted to make the race hard and so we attacked from the beginning since a sprint did not suit us. It played out quite well when we had 3 (Quinn Simmons, Alexander Kamp, Toms Skujins) in a big group. We narrowed the group down to a few less riders and for the 2nd half we had around 10 of us that worked well together, and established a big enough gap that we knew the winner would come from our group.
“Finally, in the final laps, with Magnus Cort there, we knew we had to make him work, but he had 2 teammates so that made it hard. When the 4 of us got away Nelson Powless did not work since he had Magnus behind, so we were not working well, but behind they were not riding so we still got a gap. We attacked each other but I was mostly in defensive mode since I was cramping after a hard day in the heat.
“In the sprint, I could not really launch where I wanted, I had to wait. Piccoli also had bridged to us giving EF 2 riders and that made the sprint more complicated. I had to close a gap in the last kilometer, and in the end, I waited a little bit too long to go for sure. That’s hindsight looking back at it. I think at the beginning of the day, if we knew we could get 4th we wuld have been happy. The way we raced was also good and Quinn also got the KOM jersey, so it was a good day overall.”
Quinn of the Mountains (QOM). Again.
