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Racers climb one of the many rolling hills of North Baltimore County during the 2023 Maryland Cycling Classic. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun) A good season got even better for Mattias Skjelmose. The 22-year-old Denmark native distanced himself from a chase group with less than 5 1/2 miles to go and then sailed to the finish line in Baltimore to capture the second installment of the Maryland Cycling Classic Sunday afternoon. Skjelmose, who rides for Lidl-Trek, won in an official time of 4 hours, 26 minutes, 5 seconds. He was so overpowering that when he crossed the finish line, he enjoyed a 2-minute, 20-second gap from a chase group of three. Skjelmose pointed out that he was encouraged by the support he received from fans lining the course from the start at Kelly Benefits in Sparks to the end at the Inner Harbor at Pratt Street and Market Place. "It's always nice winning," he said. "It's my first time racing in the U.S. and my second time winning. I was really surprised by the spectators on the road. I didn't know that cycling was so big in the U.S. I would say it was right up there with the Tour de Suisse and the Nationals." The victory is another milestone in what has been a strong campaign for Skjelmose. In April, he finished second at La Flèche Wallonne in Belgium. Two months later, he secured his first wins in a Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Tour event by capturing the third stage of the Tour de Suisse and that race's general classification. Skjelmose also enjoyed a solid season in 2022. He finished second on the final stage of the Tour de la Provence, which lifted him to third overall and gave him the title of the best young rider. He also picked up his first two wins as a pro at the Tour de Luxembourg, winning a stage and the overall classification. While Skjelmose won easily, the chase group of three behind him ended up producing more drama. On the final straightaway, Lucas Hamilton of Jayco-AlUla led Hugo Houle of Israel-Premier Tech and Neilson Powless of EF Education-EasyPost. But with less than a fifth of a mile to go, Powless surged ahead to move from fourth to second -- a one-spot improvement from his performance at last year's inaugural event -- and finished with a time of 4:28:25. Houle followed Powless and overtook Hamilton for third. Powless, who finished 11th at the 2023 UCI Road World Championships last month, said the riders knew that Skjelmose's power move relegated them to a race for second place. "So I just tried to do everything I could to get the best result possible, and I knew that was going to come down to a sprint," he said. "Last year, I finished third in the sprint. I was pretty disappointed about that. I feel like I messed up a little bit, and I feel like I let the team down. But this year, I did the sprint much better. I won the sprint for second place. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the win, but I think that was the best result I could have expected." Said Houle, a 2022 Tour de France stage winner: "At the end, we understood that we were racing for second place. Nielson was really strong. So I think I ended up with the best I could have today." Scott McGill, a Fallston native and graduate who races for Human Powered Health, finished seventh in 4:31:01. Last year, he finished outside the time limit. Sunday's race started at noon at Kelly Benefits, traveled north of Butler, skirted the Maryland-Pennsylvania state line, circled Prettyboy Reservoir twice, moved southward down the eastern edges of Upperco, Boring and Glyndon, and climbed a total elevation of about 7,500 feet before entering Baltimore City. In the city, the cyclists made 4 1/2 laps of a 7.5-mile circuit that included 19 turns and short climbs through neighborhoods such as Fells Point, Washington Hill, Old Town and Mount Vernon. The route was generally contained by St. Paul Street to the west, Pratt Street to the south, South Broadway to the east, and East Lafayette Avenue to the north. Several riders praised the turnout for Sunday's race. "The U.S. cycling scene is there," said LIDL-Trek's Toms Skujiņš, a four-time winner of the National Time Trial Championships and a two-time titlist of the National Road Race Championships who finished fifth Sunday in 4:29:01. "It's definitely fun to race around here." Sunday's event is the only road race in the United States sanctioned by the UCI, cycling's world governing body that also endorses, among others, the Tour de France. It continues to be the first UCI-sanctioned race in the U.S. since the Tours of California and Utah were held in 2019 before being suspended indefinitely. In addition to the competition and the course's elevation changes, the cyclists were forced to endure a high temperature that reached 96 degrees on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Although the humidity level was mild, Houle acknowledged how the climate matched the heat wave many cyclists had experienced in Europe this past summer. "In the last circuit, the heat today was the hardest factor," he said. "But it's a great circuit." All three riders who stood on the podium will move on to the Grand Prix Cyclistes in Quebec and Montreal on Friday and next Sunday, respectively. Skjelmose said Sunday's result provided a boost to his confidence. "Now I have the win," he said. "I was a little bit worried that I was burned out a little bit. I was a little tired mentally after the Tour of Denmark. I'm happy to see that I'm not. So I'm really looking forward to the Canadian races now."
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