Sandy Dujardin (TotalEnergies) claimed the men\u2019s Maryland Cycling Classic with a perfectly timed sprint from a reduced breakaway, beating Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility) and Marius Mayrhofer (Tudor Pro Cycling) on Pratt Street.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old Frenchman came through in the final metres after a cagey finale, surviving rain, crashes, and even a flat tyre<\/a> earlier in the day to take his biggest one-day victory to date.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis means a lot for the team\u2014we came all this way to the U.S. just for this race, and the goal was to win,\u201d Dujardin said. \u201cI knew Jonas was the fastest guy, so I had to be careful with my positioning. When he launched, I jumped straight on his wheel and then sprinted past. It worked perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n Abrahamsen, fresh off a victory at Circuit Franco-Belge, was forced to settle for second but noted the result could prove crucial toward Uno-X\u2019s WorldTour ambitions. \u201cIt was so hard, but very nice to come to the States for the first time and get a podium,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe I used too much energy at the start, but the legs were pretty good. I think I got 120 points today, so that\u2019s pretty good. I hope we can make it into the WorldTour.\u201d<\/p>\n How the race unfolded<\/p>\n The only UCI ProSeries one-day race in the United States returned for its third edition on a 172.8km circuit in Baltimore\u2014six laps of a punchy 28.8km route featuring the steep climb past St. Mary\u2019s Seminary, cobbles in Fells Point, and a flat run-in to the Inner Harbor.<\/p>\n The day began aggressively, with Fabian Weiss (Tudor) and veteran Oscar Sevilla (Medell\u00edn) escaping early, building a six-minute gap before being reeled back. Mid-race, rain swept across the course, slicking the descents and splitting the field into scattered groups. Then, as quickly as it came, the storm passed. The sun returned, and the humidity spiked, turning the circuit into a sticky test of endurance.<\/p>\n Among those forging ahead were Brandon McNulty (USA), Jonas Abrahamsen, Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla), Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech), Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost<\/a>), and eventually Dujardin himself, who bridged across after a puncture threatened to derail his race. Alone from his team in a move where most squads had multiple riders, Dujardin had to manage his efforts carefully.<\/p>\n