Toms Skujins On The 2018 Amstel Gold Race

Toms Skujins, 26, kicked off his 2018 season with a bang.

On January 27, the all-arounder for Trek-Segafredo stormed to victory at the Trofeo Lloseta - Andratx, a UCI 1.1 race held in Majorca, Spain. He’d found himself in a small front group, with teammates alongside him, and attacked at a perfect moment of hesitation.

In securing the solo win, Skujins held off a chase group containing some of the world’s strongest riders, such Alejandro Valverde, Tim Wellens, and Gianni Moscon.

“I’ve always been good in May and June, so that win was a total surprise for me,” Skujins says.

He followed up his breakout performance in Majorca with a top-10 finish on stage 2 of the Volta Cataluyna. But he wasn’t updating his race resume following that performance.

“I don’t go for top 10s, I go for winning,” Skujins says with a smile.

On the cusp of this third Amstel Gold Race in the WorldTour—and his third crack at the Ardennes Classics—Skujins will look to play a support role for team leaders like Jasper Stuyven, Bauke Mollema, and Michael Gogl.

But don’t be surprised if, like in Majorca, Skujins rides with instinct and seizes a moment.

In this interview the day before the 2018 Amstel Gold Race, Skujins discusses how the race’s new route may affect the outcome and his personal aspirations for the first of the hilly classics.