Maryland Cycling Classic: Mattias Skjelmose wins America's only pro road race

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) added another feather to his hat this weekend with a solo victory at the Maryland Cycling Classic. It was a dominant win for Lidl-Trek with Skjelmose attacking from a five man group on the last two circuits around Baltimore's Inner Harbour. American Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) sprinted home for second while Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) took third.

In a day that saw the race play out similarly to the past edition, with the early short-punchy climbs of Maryland County causing havoc amongst the peloton, the final laps were once again decided by small groups that would typically be found in much more selective parcours. In the end it was down to just six who sprang from a larger leading group that would decide the day.

From that leader group of six, with a heavy dose of World Tour power, Skjelmose and his teammate Toms Skujins were able to play the tactical game right, even with the added pressure of riding for an American team at the only American professional road race.

“I’m really happy,” Skjelmose said in a statement from the team after the race. “This race is really important for Lidl-Trek and to win here and show great teamwork is really important for us and to take the win is really special.

“Toms was super strong, I was super strong, I think both of us could have won. Toms made a good attack and then I was just waiting for my moment to attack. As Toms said before the race, we were just going 1-2 all the time, playing into each other well. In the end the guys cracked when I attacked the last time.”

America’s semi classic

With a cursory glance at the route and profile of the race through Northern Maryland, the Maryland Cycling Classic would seem to be on the easier side of professional road races. Yet, if last year was anything to go by, the peloton was set for a race that would erupt early. 3,000 metres of climbing over 200km is always going to offer the chance for interesting racing.

While it started with a early breakaway of five riders – David Lozano (Novo Nordisk), Oscar Sevilla (Medellin-EPM), Kyle Murphy (L39ION of Los Angeles), Carson Miles (Toronto Hustle) and Julien Gagné (Skyline) – who would be given three minutes, that chaotic spirit was to be confirmed this year with EF Education easy post raining the tempo around the hilly northern circuit of the course around the Prettyboy Reservoir.

While the break would contest the early KOM points, which were taken by Lozano, the break would be swallowed up by a greatly diminished peloton of 35 riders with still 70 miles to go. The aggressive racing continued still, with different groups attacking and coming back together. The most significant of which saw a group of eight get up the road – including each of the World Tour teams – which then eventually lead to the racing cutting down one again when only 13 riders bridged up to the leaders with around 47 miles to go.

With the slightly flatter finishing circuits close approaching, the group of 21 was too large to work cohesively, allowing a group of six, which would go on to contest the victory, shoot off the front and build a lead quickly as they entered the circuit. By the time they crossed the finish line for the first time the six leaders – Skjelmose and Skujins (Lidl-Trek), Chris Harper and Lucas Hamilton (Jayco-AlUla), Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) and Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) – had a minute on the chasing pack.

Furthermore, that peloton included two other Lidl-Trek riders, three more Israel-Premier Tech riders – including an impressive stagiaire performance from Riley Sheehan who made the original break of eight – another EF Education rider and Simon Yates from Jayco-AlUla. Both Scott McGill (Human Powered Health) and Eder Frayre (L39ion of Los Angeles) were active in trying to bridge, but the firepower outfront was too much. With hot humid conditions and frantic racing to boot, it would be down to those out front to decide the win.

After only one of the four laps completed, the four out front started attacking, with Houle anticipating the others and jumping first. Then, it was Skujins turn, with the Latvian going solo next. His gap was a sticky one with Powless, Houle and Hamilton having to ride hard to pull him back. Eventually, he was brought back with just over a lap to go.

The five that were left out front would not be together for long, however, as Skjelmose swung wide and hit it hard with just over a lap to go. By this point. The day had worn on long enough and soon he built an unassailable lead. While he was only out front for just over a 7.5 mile lap, he was able to win with a 2:20 margin.

In the sprint for second, Powless powered home ahead of Houle as Hamilton languished off of the podium. Skujins, who had played the perfect teammate, drifted off the back of the leaders to soak in the team win instead of sprint. The peloton, who were almost five minutes behind at the end of the day, were led in by Mikkel Honore (EF Education-EasyPost) and Scott McGill who was the local man in the peloton, having grown up near the course in Maryland.

While that is it for racing in America, be sure to turn in next week as much of the peloton turns north to Canada to take on the final North American Classics of the year.