This year, the “MEGRE Gravel” race registered as many as 800 participants, including more than a hundred athletes from abroad. Cyclists from Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Spain, Italy, Canada, the USA, Brazil, and other countries competed on the gravel roads and forest paths around Anykščiai.
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This victory was R. Armas’s first international achievement in the gravel discipline. Although the Estonian is well known as a road cyclist, this race was his first gravel start outside Estonia.
“It was a tough race. I had never participated in gravel races outside Estonia before, so I gained valuable experience. There were many attacks, sometimes the pace slowed down. About 45 kilometers from the finish, two cyclists attacked from a small group, and I chose the right moment and caught up with them. We worked well together until the finish. I was a bit worried that they might start attacking before the finish because I was riding at my limit and wouldn’t have been able to respond to such attacks. But in the final sprint, I still had stronger legs,” R. Armas said after the finish.
According to Ignatas Konovalovas, head of the “Energus” cycling team, this victory once again confirmed the versatility of the team’s athletes.
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“Although our main focus is on road racing, such performances show that top-level athletes can successfully compete in other cycling disciplines as well. It’s great to see that Raitas’s first international gravel start ended with a victory. It was an example of mature tactics and strong character,” said I. Konovalovas.
The “MEGRE Gravel” race annually attracts some of the strongest foreign gravel cyclists to Anykščiai, and the 150-kilometer distance demanded not only physical endurance but also smart tactical decisions.
Victory in this race in Lithuania extended the successful season for “Energus.” This year, the team has already won UCI races, was recognized as the strongest team in the multi-day “Dookoła Mazowsza” race in Poland, and currently ranks third in the latest UCI ranking among 184 continental teams worldwide.
