Latvian World Championship specialist is somehow still considered an underdog: 'They create opportunities for me'

The experienced Latvian often rides relatively unnoticed in the peloton, but can sometimes attack with relentless ferocity. For example, he finished second in the 2024 Strade Bianche. “A lot in sports isn’t just about physical preparation, but also mental preparation,” he tells Cyclingnews. “For these races, I knew in advance that I would be the leader. At Lidl-Trek, it’s rare that I know more than a week in advance that I’ll have a chance to race on my own.”

It makes competing for top spots on the team a bit difficult. He recalls the 2023 Clásica de San Sebastián. “I’d dropped my daughter off at daycare a few days earlier when the team told me I’d be the team leader. I thought, ‘This isn’t the kind of preparation I would have done if I’d known this!’ But I still finished sixth—my best result ever there. So as soon as I get the support, the results usually follow.”

And on the Latvian team, Skujins is always the big star. He’s proven that in recent years at the World Championships: he finished eighth in Glasgow in 2023. A year later, he narrowly missed the bronze medal and finished fourth in Zurich, while last year he once again placed in the top five. In a top-ten ranking of elite climbers, the now 35-year-old Latvian finished fifth.

It’s an astonishing statistic. The only rider to consistently finish in the top ten in those same races? Tadej Pogačar. But while the Slovenian is the best cyclist in the world, Skujins has to find another way to succeed. “I’m very good at reading races,” he explains. “It’s my strength. And the tougher the race, the better it is for me. The races that come down to a head-to-head battle are the ones that suit me best.”

The question is whether that will also be the case in Montreal. What we do know for sure is that we’re definitely listing this climbing specialist as a dangerous contender capable of pulling off a surprise. “You guys see me as an underdog. But honestly: if you ask around in the cycling world, they won’t see me that way. There are only a few people who’ve noticed my consistency in these races and think I have a realistic chance.”

That’s also where Skujins’ threat lies. “It’s good for me to be seen as a bit of an underdog from a smaller country, because I need the big countries to battle it out so they create opportunities for me.” In any case, he himself is motivated to the core. “I’m really looking forward to it. It’s probably my last World Championship where I can go all out, so I have to make the most of it.”