'I've got to make it count' – Toms Skujiņš is a rider for the big occasions, and he's ready aim high again at the World Championships

When Toms Skujiņš lines up for the World Championships road race in Montreal this weekend., he can take confidence from a string of impressive results he’s achieved wearing the dark red and white national team kit of Latvia. Since 2023, he has finished 8th, 4th, and 5th in the World Championships, as well as 5th in the 2024 Olympic road race in Paris.

The 35-year-old has previous form on the Montreal circuit as well, placing 6th in the GP de Montréal for Lidl-Trek in 2024, and he hopes to race for another top result on Sunday.

For most of his career, Skujiņš has performed admirably as a strong and dependable domestique supporting his teammates’ ambitions, but occasionally he does get the nod as the supported rider himself. His biggest result is a second place in the 2024 Strade Bianche, finishing behind only an untouchable Tadej Pogačar but beating everyone else.

"It was the first and only time that I’ve had the full support of the team. And without that, I definitely wouldn’t have made it on the podium. It was the first year where I punctured, not just once but twice, and then I crashed, so I also had to change the bike. Without the guys supporting me, I definitely would have not made it back to the peloton [to fight for the podium]," Skujiņš looked back on his best trade team result when Cyclingnews spoke to him ahead of the GP Quebec earlier this month.

Racing Worlds or Olympics for the national team, Skujiņš can plan his preparation for that one big day well in advance, a luxury that he doesn’t have with Lidl-Trek where he isn’t among the out-and-out leaders.

"A lot of things in sport are not just physical preparation but the mental side as well. For these races, I know in advance that I will be the leader. With Lidl-Trek, it’s rare that I will know more than a week in advance that I will have a chance at a certain race," he explained.

"And even if I get a heads-up in the last week, you can’t change your training. A few years ago [in 2023], I was at home with my daughter, still very young at the time, just the two of us. I was dropping her off [at daycare], changed in the parking lot, went training, changed back in the parking lot, picked her up, went home, made dinner for both of us, and showered only after she went to bed. That was the week leading up to San Sebastián.

"A few days before the race, the team was like, you can be the leader. And I’m like, 'This is not the preparation I would have done if I knew this before!' But still, I finished sixth, my best San Sebastián that I’ve ever done. So of course, once I get the support, most of the time, the results also come."

'I’m not someone who will demand the team to ride for me'

Skujiņš’ own character also plays into it, as he isn’t the person to assert leadership ahead of a race, and he made clear he often prefers to ride for a teammate – which also increases his own chances.

"I’m not someone who will demand the team to ride for me. And a lot of times, it is to my advantage to have people look at my teammates as the leaders because then I can take the opportunity," he said.

"Realistically, I’m never going to be able to follow Tadej. For me to beat him, I need something interesting to happen. I need a situation that is out of the ordinary. And I don’t like racing for a sixth place or a top-10, that’s not why I race. I want to race for the win, and I’d rather race for the win with a teammate who can actually win than hope that I can make it into the top 10 myself."

In the Canadian WorldTour races, Skujiņš performed exactly that role and still finished with a respectable result himself. At the GP de Québec, he finished 20th in a selective race after supporting his Lidl-Trek teammates Quinn Simmons and Giulio Ciccone who placed 2nd and 5th. In the GP de Montréal, Ciccone and Simmons finished 4th and 7th while Skujiņš crossed the line in 29th place.

For the Worlds road race, however, Skujiņš will be the undisputed leader of the Latvian selection, and he wants to be at the pointy end of the race for the rainbow jersey once again.

"I am very good at reading a race, it’s definitely my strong suit. The harder the race, the better for me as well. And the races where it becomes man against man are the ones that suit me the most," he said.

Latvia is a small country with only three riders in the current men's professional peloton: Skujiņš himself, Emīls Liepiņš (Pinarello Q36.5), and Krists Neilands (NSN). Only Skujiņš and Liepiņš will line up in Montreal, though.

"Krists would have been a great asset to have, but unfortunately he’s injured, so I think his season is done. That’s a bit of a blow for us, especially on such a small team, but we’ll keep fighting on," Skujiņš said.

The four-rider team will be completed by two riders from the Continental ranks, the national road race champion Mārtiņš Pluto (Energus) and national ITT champion Kristiāns Belohvoščiks (Bike Aid), son of ex-pro Raivis Belohvoščiks.

"It is kind of a tactical choice to bring four riders. It’s for having our own car, because Worlds is an interesting situation. I remember my first years in Worlds, a lot of times we shared a car with the Slovaks when Sagan was winning all his world titles. It was actually super cool. But if you have control of the car, you can organise yourselves much better. With four riders, we will still have another nation with us, but they will be with us, not us with another nation," explained Skujiņš.

Opportunities for the taking in Montreal

The Montreal circuit with the 1.8km, 8% climb on the Voie Camillien-Houde through the Parc du Mont-Royal as well as the shorter climbs of the Chemin de Polytechnique and Avenue Pagnuelo and the rise towards the finish line on the Avenue du Parc is hardly ever flat, and this suits both Skujiņš himself and a smaller team well.

"In Montreal, you can wait, you don’t have to invest as much from a team perspective unless you have the big favourite and you’re controlling the race. You don’t have to invest as many people because in the end it’s the legs that decide," he said.

With Skujiņš having said he prefers to race for the win, the next question was obvious: Could he repeat the feat of Romāns Vainšteins who won the rainbow jersey in Plouay in 2000 and actually win the World Championships?

"I think if Tadej was here, it would have been better for me, honestly. But a lot of things need to go right for me to win Worlds," he said.

"You were saying, I’m an outsider. But honestly, if you’ll ask around in the cycling world, they will not think of me as an outsider. I think there’s only a few people that will have noticed my consistency in these races and think that I have a realistic chance. It’s good for me to be a bit of an underdog from a smaller nation because I need the big nations to fight against each other for me to use the opportunity. I’m very much looking forward to it. It’s probably my last Worlds that I go for it, so I’ve got to make it count."

And even if more people would consider him a real threat, his approach to the race wouldn’t change much.

"In the end, it’s going to be a really tough race either way. Even without Tadej, there’s plenty of strong nations and I’m sure everybody’s talking about how Belgium is going to race and look at them. I like that I’m flying under the radar and luckily plenty of cyclists still think about themselves more than anything else. It works for me."

Skujiņš will enter the Montreal Worlds as an outsider. But if things go his way and he finds an opportunity and can anticipate the big favourites’ moves, like Magdeleine Vallières did in the women’s elite road race in Kigali last year, another top result, even an improvement on his 4th place from 2024, is very much possible and would not be a surprise.

Subscribe to Cyclingnews for comprehensive race coverage of both the UCI Road and Gravel World Championships, alongside the final monument of the season, Il Lombardia. Subscribers get unlimited access to exclusive analysis from our expert columnists, in-depth features and industry-leading tech insight. Plus, the Cyclingnews app lets you follow the action wherever you go! Join today.