excerpts from Tourdebeauce.com
Tom Skujins, of Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team, is the new champion of the Tour de Beauce. He who celebrated his 23rd birthday with a victory in the last stage, which already held the yellow jersey prior to the stage, has achieved what many riders in the Tour’s history could not do before.
From the memory of those who have been following the Tour for a long time, he may be the only holder of the yellow jersey entering the last stage to win the ultimate stage, and the second U23 rider to claim the yellow jersey after Nathan Brown last year. In addition, he claimed the red jersey for the best young rider, and the white jersey for winning the points classification. On top of all these winnings, he finished second in the King of the Mountain standings.
His combined time of 16h19m09s allowed him to overtake Rob Britton (Smartstop) by 1m49s and Serghei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly) in 2m09s. The Latvian cyclist was simply euphoric after crossing the finish line. He proved here that he had the potential to be part of a World Tour team. After winning the stage of Mont-Mégantic, he repeated Sunday with a victory in Saint-Georges. A fantastic way to highlight his 23rd birthday.
His team was also very proud of this victory. “The guys have sacrificed for me at this stage and one of them even left a part of his skin on the asphalt when he had been dropped. It really is a beautiful day, the most beautiful of my life, the other being that of my birth.”
Part of the breakaway that took off in the 73rd kilometer, Skujins kept pace until the end to cross the finish line first. “This is the way to race, and I’m the philosophy of Team Hincapie that wants to fight until the end. This is the most difficult stage after the Mont Mégantic and there was pressure to keep the yellow jersey. I had to keep the strength in my legs to make it to the line.”
Rob Britton made a race of Sunday, he who was fourth overall before the stage of St. George. His second place at the stage allowed him to take the second of the general classification.
Julien Gagné (Norco) proved to be the best Quebecers this last stage with his 29th place. This is a very good result for a mountain bike racer who turned to road cycling only a year ago. “I’m glad it’s over, it’s a very difficult race and I’m happy just to have finished it. Road races are longer than mountain bike. And had to adapt to the peloton. I’m happy with my performance and I hope that was able to sell myself a little bit with this race. Currently I’m in love with the road bike.”
This Tour de Beauce will not prevent him to participate next week at the Quebec Provincial Mountain Bike Championships, and in two weeks at the Canadian Road Championships in Lac Mégantic.
Stage 5 Results
1. Tom Skujins (Lat) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team 3:10:35
2. Rob Britton (Can) Smartstop 3. EdsonArturo Calderon (Col) 4-72 Colombia 4. Michael Woods (Can) Amore Vita 00:07 5. Kirk Carlsen (USA) Jelly Belly P/B Maxxis 00:15 6. Anatoliy Pakhtusov (Ukr) Isd Continental Team 00:29 7. Jure Kocjan (Slo) Smartstop 00:33 8. David Lozano (Esp) Novo Nordisk 00:33 9. Dion Smith (Nzl) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team 00:33 10. Asbjorn Kragh (Den) Christina Watches 00:36 11. Serghei Tvetcov (Rou) Jelly Belly P/B Maxxis 00:39 12. Michael Torkler (Nzl) Smartstop 00:39 13. Ryan Roth (Can) Silber Pro Cycling Team 00:39 14. Jonathan Hornbeck (USA) 5Hr Energy 00:39 15. Maxim Jenkins (USA) Team Veloselect 00:39 16. Timothy Roe (Aus) Budget Forklifts Cycling 00:46 17. Viesturs Luksevics (Lat) Amore Vita 00:46 18. Garrett Mcleod (Can) H&R Block 00:46 19. Bjorn Selander (USA) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 00:54 20. Joshua Prete (Aus) Budget Forklifts Cycling 00:54 21. Volodymyr Dzhus (Ukr) Isd Continental Team 01:04 22. Fernando Orjuela (Col) 4-72 Colombia 01:13 23. Eloy Teruel (Esp) Jamis Hagens Berman 01:25 24. Timothy Rugg (USA) Ride With Rendall P/B Biemme 01:27 25. Oscar Clark (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cycling Team 01:43
Final GC
1. Tom Skujins (Lat) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cy 16:19:09
2. Rob Britton (Can) Smartstop 01:49
3. Serghei Tvetcov (Rou) Jelly Belly P/B Maxxis 02:09 4. Asbjorn Kragh (Den) Christina Watches 02:19 5. Kirk Carlsen (USA) Jelly Belly P/B Maxxis 02:30 6. Michael Woods (Can) Amore Vita 02:36 7. Dion Smith (Nzl) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cy 02:38 8. Timothy Roe (Aus) Budget Forklifts Cycling 02:49 9. Ryan Roth (Can) Silber Pro Cycling Team 03:27 10. Garrett Mcleod (Can) H&R Block 03:34 11. Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Christina Watches 03:50 12. Fernando Orjuela (Col) 4-72 Colombia 03:58 13. Maxim Jenkins (USA) Team Veloselect 04:26 14. Jonathan Hornbeck (USA) 5Hr Energy 04:39 15. David Lozano (Esp) Novo Nordisk 04:44 16. Anatoliy Pakhtusov (Ukr) Isd Continental Team 04:59 17. Joshua Prete (Aus) Budget Forklifts Cycling 05:01 18. Timothy Rugg (USA) Ride With Rendall P/B Biemme 05:06 19. EdsonArturo Calderon (Col) 4-72 Colombia 05:12 20. Viesturs Luksevics (Lat) Amore Vita 07:38 21. Volodymyr Dzhus (Ukr) Isd Continental Team 07:42 22. Jure Kocjan (Slo) Smartstop 07:56 23. Joseph Rosskopf (USA) Hincapie Sportswear Development Cy 08:55 24. Joshua Berry (USA) Smartstop 09:30
25. Gavin Mannion (USA) 5Hr Energy 10:03
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