Marco Quezada is a stalwart of the cycling scene.  He’s been shooting cycling editorial and commercial photographs for ages. He’s also a friend; he and I have collaborated in various guises over the years.  He was kind enough to share a selection of his work from the recent Maryland Cycling Classic.  He was at the start and hopscotched the race until it came to the finishing circuits.  There, he found a few good vantage points and then settled in to catch the finish.

The field, or what’s left of it, going full throttle over the Prettyboy Dam, less than 30 miles into the race.  The race started out blazingly fast, culling the chaff quickly and forcing the unlucky to ride at least as hard as the breakaway.

A field climbing shortly after the Prettyboy The breakaway was established early.  Israel-Premier Tech’s Guillaume Boivin, seen in front, had teammates in the break, and had sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo back in the field.  Nizzolo was seen as a favorite for the sprint.  But he had to get there first.  In this pic, there are three WorldTour riders in the lead (the red helmet marks a Trek-Segafredo rider), but behind them, we can only see third-division riders.

Leading into the feed zone, which was passed twice on the course, as the race did 1.5 laps around the Prettyboy Reservoir.  Fans found places to wait for the race on their own.  It didn’t appear that any spectator guide had recommendations.  There was also no caravane publicitaire to tempt the fans to come early. The race had a race-tracker app and people could stay informed, or figure out their own way to rally around the parcours.

This is not the first, but the second chase group dealing with the rolling hills about 10k after the Prettyboy.

Pictured is Bike Exchange-Jayco’s Michael Matthews, former Green Jersey champ at the Tour de France, and TdF stage winner this year.  This is about 90 miles into the race, and he’s probably working much harder than he expected at this point.  He finished 23rd, in the fifth group, almost 10 minutes down on the winner.

United States National Champion Kyle Murphy of Human Powered Health, and formerly of New York City, taking a corner fast in the second chase on the finishing circuit.  He was in the early break, helping set up teammate Nichols Zukowsky to go for the win.  He faded along with Eder Frayre of Legion of Los Angeles, the dominant criterium team in the United States, and Krists Neilands of Israel-Premier Tech.  Murphy finished 17th, with teammate Robin Carpenter winning his second chase’s sprint, at 13th.

The is what the peloton looked like on their first the city circuit.  They were clearly done for the day.  They’d make it to the finish like to get pulled from the course by officials.

The race’s two best sprinters, Giacomo Nizzolo of Israel-Premier Tech and Dylan Groenewegen of Bike Exchange-Jayco, riding in small group with about two laps remaining on the circuit.  Their race was over long ago, and they seemed to just be riding it in.  They’d go on to finish along with Matthews, in 24th (Groenewegen) and 25th (Nizzolo), 9:54 down on Nizzolo’s teammate, Sep Vanmarcke.  But with two races in Canada in a week’s time, they needed the to get in the miles regardless of result.

Most of the UCI Continental team Toronto Hustle taking in some shade after being pulled from the finishing circuits.  Only one of their riders, 23 year-old Michael Foley, finished.  He came in just behind some WorldTour pros at 27th.  The team sees itself as a grassroots development program.  This was probably the biggest race they’ve done as a team.

The sprint. Israel-Premier Tech’s Sep Vanmarcke takes the race in a bike throw from Human Powered Health’s Nichols Zukowsky.  Vanmarcke, who has racked up an impressive list of second places to legends got a much needed win by turning the table on a group sprint.  For Zukowsky and his team, second between Vanmarcke and EF’s Neilson Powless is pretty huge, though the V would have been that much better.

The Eritrean contingent was not shy about flying the flag.  They were at the race to support countryman Mehari Tewelde of South Africa’s ProTouch cycling team.  The team was mostly comprised of South Africans; the team’s mission is to support African athletes on “the world stage.”  Tewelde finished 37th, 15:03 down on the winner.  46 finished in total.  While the team didn’t ride either the Quebec or Montreal pro races the following week, the Eritrean flags were flying there as well.