The largest road cycling race in the Baltic States, the Tour of Lithuania, continues in Lithuania. On the second day of the competition, cyclists competed in the city of Kėdainiai and its surroundings. The best Lithuanian performance was again by national team member Rokas Adomaitis, who took fifth place.
Despite the strong wind, the athletes reached a speed of 65 km/h during the 178.4 km race. As the crosswind worsened conditions, the fight for the race winner was decided at the end: about 13 kilometers before the finish, 13 athletes, including R. Adomaitis, broke away from the peloton.
Another breakaway was made by four athletes who shared the final places at the finish line: Estonian Lauri Tamm (Estonian national team) finished first, Pole Radoslaw Fratczak (Wibatech Lubelskie Perla Polski) finished second, Magnus Machholdt (Reffe Co:Play Giant Store) finished third, and the winner of the first stage, Italian Alexander Konychev (China Anta – Mentech Cycling Team), finished fourth.
“The race was tough, I had to be patient all day because there were no easy sections. I had help from my team and, fortunately, I made the right decisions. In the end, everything depended on me and my legs. I will try to win more stages, but it will be difficult to maintain first place in the overall standings,” said race winner L. Tamm.
R. Adomaitis, who took a high fifth place, achieved his career record in a competition of this rank. The 21-year-old Lithuanian was just 21 seconds behind the top four.
“I’m very happy; this is my first Top-5 in a UCI race in my entire short career. I felt much better than yesterday. The tactics were the same: after 15 kilometers the race started, although we rode 180 km. I didn’t do well in the first lap, I stayed in the second group, but since it was a long stage, I wasn’t too worried. We came back to the leaders. In the second lap I was in a very good position and with the crosswind I sat where I needed to be – I turned into the top ten or twenty,” said R. Adomaitis.
“After that, 20-30 people went. We reached around the third lap, and in the fourth I knew what was coming. I fell behind the leaders, but I didn’t give up and returned to the group. Then attack after attack started and in the end I missed that final attack. I tried as hard as I could, but we couldn’t catch the first ones. With a kilometer to go, I was alone. I reached the finish line in fifth place, and I’m very happy about that.”
The leader of the overall standings remains A. Konychevas and will start in the yellow jersey on Friday. The winner of the second stage L. Tammas leads in the race points and U23 standings. Raitas Armas, a rider for the Lithuanian “Energus” team from Estonia, will wear the jersey of the most active cyclist tomorrow.
The “Tour of Lithuania” race is assigned the 2.2 category of the International Cycling Union (UCI), so cyclists can earn ranking points in it, allowing them to compete for tickets to the world, European championships and even the Olympic Games. The Tour of Lithuania race, held for the fourth consecutive year, consists of five stages: on Friday, cyclists will start and finish in Utena.
The Tour of Lithuania cycling race is partially financed by state funds administered by the National Sports Agency, as well as by the municipalities of Tauragė, Kėdainiai, Utena, Kaunas and Vilnius.
