Over five days, cyclists in Lithuania covered more than 850 kilometers. The multi-day race started in Tauragė, the second stage took place in Kėdainiai, the third in Utena, the fourth in Kaunas, while today the participants crossed the finish line in Vilnius.
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The final stage was won by Estonian Karl Kurits, who outpaced another Estonian national team member Lauri Tamm and A. Konychev in the sprint finish. Milliseconds separated Latvian Martins Pluto (“Energus Cycling Team”) who finished fourth and Lithuanian national team member Eimantas Gudiškis who finished fifth from the podium.
“It’s a pity to be the first among Lithuanians, but not overall. The day was interesting, an early breakaway happened and many people got away, which suited everyone except us, the Latvians, and maybe the leader’s team. Big thanks to my team, who organized everything well, and the guys had to work hard so that we had a chance to reach the line and try to win the stage. Everything went well, but I never had legs strong enough to fully explode on any day. The legs were heavy all days, I was waiting for my day, but it never came. Basically, this result will please me tomorrow, but we wanted to win a stage and be in the Top-10 overall. The second goal was achieved, but the stage win was missing, so it’s a bit frustrating for today, but maybe we will come back,” commented E. Gudiškis.
R. Adomaitis actively competed in the Vilnius stage: before the decisive stage, the Lithuanian was sixth in the general classification and second among U23 group athletes, participating in several breakaways towards the end of the race. With just over 20 kilometers left, the athlete broke away with a group of 13, but the peloton caught them with 13 km remaining. After another 6 km, R. Adomaitis tried to attack alone, but could not break away from the group.
“Fifth stage, fifth day, sixth in the general classification, there was nothing to lose anymore, I could only gain something better. I had in mind all day that I would definitely make a move somewhere at the end. I tried, it didn’t work, and then I didn’t drop too low because we have a very good sprinter, Eimantas. I gave everything I could in the last kilometers at the front of the group, and we have Eimantas’s fifth place today. We are all very happy with my sixth place in the general classification, so we achieved half of the Lithuanian national team’s goals. We missed a stage win and everything would have been according to plan,” said R. Adomaitis.
The Klaipėda native performed best in the second stage in Kėdainiai, where he finished fifth. Since then, he has been sixth in the general classification and maintained this position until the end of the race.
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Champion A. Konychev demonstrated amazing consistency: he won the first stage, finished fourth in the second, third, and fourth stages, and third in Vilnius.
“Winning is always a wonderful feeling. I knew we had a good chance to keep the yellow jersey until the end, but in races like this, especially when we had to fight against strong wind during the first three days, anything can happen. I am proud of how we rode, the team was around me all days, and we managed to achieve victory. Which stage was the hardest? The first two because of the wind – extra stress, you always had to stay focused, but I had good legs. I attacked and won on the first day, I also tried to attack on the second day but at the same time keep the leader’s jersey – everything worked out,” said A. Konychev.
The Italian also won the points classification (54 points), while the white jersey was won by Lauri Tamm, the best performer in the U23 group, and the green jersey, awarded to the most active cyclist, went to another Estonian, Raitas Armas (“Energus Cycling Team”).
“Tour of Lithuania” is the largest road cycling race in the Baltic countries, classified as category 2.2 by the International Cycling Union (UCI). The race is partially funded by state funds administered by the National Sports Agency, as well as by the municipalities of Tauragė, Kėdainiai, Utena, Kaunas, and Vilnius.
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