Toms Skujins ended the most successful season of his career so far in Japan on Sunday, where he competed in the UCI Pro category cycling race – the Japan Cup in front of more than a hundred thousand fans in the city of Utsunomiya. Tom was in very good spirits after winning the traditional criterium the day before.
The 112 starting cyclists covered a distance of 144.2 kilometers, which was divided into 14 laps. Each lap included a 4.7 kilometer climb with an average gradient of 3.5 percent. The competition turned out to be very tough, as evidenced by the fact that only 54 cyclists were able to reach the finish line.
The “Lidl-Trek” team represented by Skujiņas was one of the dominant units that took control in front of the group. Toms Skujiņš, when there were 107 kilometers to the finish line, got involved in a big breakaway of nine drivers, which was soon neutralized.
The decisive events in the battle for victory began in the last 50 kilometers when Michael Woods (Israel Premier tech) attacked, joined by Lucas Nerukar (EF Education). A large leading group of five cyclists soon formed. Woods was also joined by Nielson Paules, Matej Mohoric, Ilan Van Wilder and Mauri Vansevenant. Unfortunately, none of the “Lidl-Trek” men were here.
The leaders worked very well with each other, accumulating a lead of more than 4 minutes. Paules was the fastest in the fight for victory, leaving Van Wilder and Mohoric in the second and third places, respectively. The winner spent 3 hours 33 minutes and 30 seconds on the track.
Toms Skujins finished in eighth place, 4 minutes and 35 seconds behind the winner. Tom managed to earn 50 UCI World Ranking points, which could further improve his position in the ranking.