Toms Skujins will stay at Lidl-Trek for the following two seasons after signing a contract extension with the group. The Latvian has been with the group since 2018, when he joined from Cannondale.
“I believe each time we re-sign it appears to occur earlier and earlier as a result of each events have discovered a mutual respect and mutual liking,” Skujins, 32, mentioned in a press release on Friday.
“The course the group goes additionally makes me pleased. We’re transferring ahead and progressing as a group. It could be onerous to see myself in any jersey apart from Lidl-Trek’s.”
Skujins loved a superb begin to the present marketing campaign, animating Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as a part of a high-calibre break after which putting second behind Tadej Pogačar at Strade Bianche regardless of a crash and two punctures. He later collected prime 10 finishes at E3 Harelbeke and the Tour of Flanders.
“I believe that yearly I personally step up, but in addition the group does. I really feel accountable to step up with it,” Skujins mentioned. “It’s good to pay again the arrogance the group put in me a few years in the past now, to signal me within the first place, as a result of really once I signed my first contract I used to be between a rock and a tough place.
“I didn’t actually have some other place to go, so it was very nice that the group gave me that chance. I believe that yearly I’ve paid that again that increasingly more, and I’ll maintain doing that for an additional two years.”
Lidl-Trek supervisor Luca Guercilena welcomed the renewed settlement with “a uncommon sort of rider.” Skujins’ versatility has prolonged to racing on gravel, whereas he toggles between the function of attacker and assist rider throughout a spread of terrains.
“If you have been trying solely at a outcomes sheet, you would possibly underestimate him, however once you see how a lot he provides to the group throughout all terrains, you shortly notice simply how useful he’s,” Guercilena mentioned.
“The proven fact that he continues to enhance, at the same time as the extent of biking rises, speaks volumes not just for his expertise, however significantly his work ethic. Toms embodies the spirit of Lidl-Trek.”
“He is able to taking outcomes himself, but extra usually goes all in for his teammates. Lidl-Trek is all the higher with him on board.”