Tour of Estonia

Tartu Tänavasõit was a competition with long traditions that started during the Soviet time. The popularity of this springtime cycling event began to decrease and so it was decided to unite the organization of Tartu Tänavasõit with Tartu Rattaralli in the 90s. The race at first concentrated on juniors as the professional riders were busy in different foreign clubs and the level of the competition was not high enough for them to participate.

As many Estonian riders have become big names in the world of cycling the intention was to bring those names with their teams to Estonia and let them compete at home. The test competition for professional riders took place in 2001 and from there on the competition has only grown in popularity. 

The delegation of the international UCI estimated the race highly and the permission for a UCI 1.5 cl race was achieved. It was the first race in the Baltic States to have gained that category.

To motivate professional clubs to come to Estonia, Estonian Cycling Weekend, consisting of 3 races was brought alive in 2002. Pro Cycling Club organized the EOS Tallinn Grand Prix on Friday; Club Tartu Maraton’s Tartu Grand Prix took place Saturday and Tartu Rattaralli on Sunday, also organized by Club Tartu Maraton. This scheme was used until 2007.

The UCI category has only grown; Tartu Tänavasõit had a higher category of 1.3 already in 2003. In 2004 the name was changed into Tartu Grand Prix and in 2005 it gained a category of 1.0 which stayed the same in 2006.

Regarding the discords between UCI and the organizers race calendar in 2007, the race had to lower the category to 1.2 in order to maintain its traditional date on last weekend of May. That gave the bigger cycling clubs of Estonia the opportunity to compete.

In 2008 Pro Cycling Club gave up organizing the Tallinn GP. That brought Club Tartu Maraton a chance to to take on the organization of the whole weekend. The Estonian Cycling Weekend would from now on start with the Tallinn-Tartu GP.

Within the last years many famous clubs have found their way to the race in Tartu: AG2R, Europcar, Oktos, Cofidis, Landbouwcredit Colnago etc. The list of winners is as prominent including for example Jaan Kirsipuu who has won the race 4 times.

By 2013 the time was right for new challenges and club’s long-time dream of an international stage race - Tour of Estonia - took place for the first time. 

WINNERS

Tartu Tänavasõit 2001

1. Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) 2. Janek Tombak (Cofidis) 3. Jackie Durand (FD JEUX)

EOS Tallinn GP 2002, cl 1.5

1. Oleg Grishine (MOS) 2. Andrus Aug (EST) 3. Erki Pütsep (EST)

Tartu Tänavasõit 2002, cl 1.5

1. Jaan Kirsipuu (EST) 2. Janek Tombak (EST) 3. Oleg Grishine (RUS)

EOS Tallinn GP 2003 , cl 1.3

1. Arnaud Coyot (Cofidis) 2. Mederic Clain (Cofidis) 3. Lauri Aus (AG2R)

Tartu Tänavasõit 2003, cl 1.3

1. Jaan Kirsipuu (AG2R) 2. Janek Tombak (Cofidis) 3. Kazimierz Stafiej (Mroz)

EOS Tallinn GP 2004, cl 1.3

1. Mark Scanlon (AG2R) 2. Nicolas Inaudi (AG2R) 3. Jimmy Engoulvent (Cofidis)

Ühispanga Tartu GP 2004, cl 1.3

1. Mark Scanlon (AG2R) 2. Slawomir Kohut (Hoop) 3. Arnaud Coyot (Cofidis)

EOS Tallinn GP 2005, cl 1.1

1. Janek Tombak (EST) 2. Erki Pütsep (AG2R) 3. Jonas Ljungblad (Amore Vita)

SEB Ühispanga Tartu GP 2005, cl 1.1

1. Tomas Vaitkus (AG2R) 2. Andrus Aug (EST) 3. Mikhail Timoshin (Omnibike)

EOS Tallinn GP 2006, cl 1.1

1. Janek Tombak (EST) 2. Valerey Valynin (Omnibike) 3. Alexander Khatuntsev (Omnibike)

SEB Ühispanga Tartu GP 2006, cl 1.1

1. Wojciech Pawlak (Knauf) 2. Allan Oras (EST) 3. Tomasz Kiendys (Knauf)

EOS Tallinn GP 2007, cl 1.1

1. Erki Pütsep (EST) 2. Aleksejs Saramotins (Rietumu Bank Riga) 3. Marius Barnatonis (KLA)

SEB Ühispanga Tartu GP 2007, cl 1.2

1. Erki Pütsep (EST) 2. Caspar Austa (Rietumu Bank Riga) 3. Janek Tombak (Jartazi)

Tallinn-Tartu GP 2008, cl 1.1

1. Mart Ojavee (Rietumu Bank Riga) 2. Erki Pütsep (EST) 3. Jens Mouris (Mitsubushi Jartazi)

SEB Tartu GP 2008, cl 1.1

1. Aleksejs Saramotins (Rietumu Bank Riga) 2. Janek Tombak (Mitsubushi Jartazi) 3. Erki Pütsep (EST)

Tallinn-Tartu GP 2009, cl 1.1

1. Erki Pütsep (Bourgas) 2. Jaan Kirsipuu (EST) 3. Gert Jõeäär (Kalev Chocolate)

SEB Tartu GP 2009, cl 1.1

1. Hannes Blank (Differdange) 2. Aleksejs Saramotins (LAT) 3. Janek Tombak (Bourgas)

Tallinn-Tartu GP 2010, cl 1.1

1. Denis Flahaut (ISD) 2. Jaan Kirsipuu (CKT Tmit) 3. Erki Pütsep (EST)

SEB Tartu GP 2010, cl 1.1

1. Tanel Kangert (EST) 2. Toms Skujins (LAT U23) 3. Adrian Honkisz (POL)

Tallinn-Tartu GP 2011, cl 1.1

1. Angelo Furlan (Christina Watches) 2. Jonas Ahlstrand (Cykelcity.se) 3. Alexandre Blain (Endura Racing)

SEB Tartu GP 2011, cl 1.1

1. Jean Eudes Demaret (Cofidis) 2. Rene Mandri (Endura Racing) 3. Jonas Ljungblad (Differdange)

Tallinn-Tartu GP 2012, cl 1.1

1. Said Haddou (Team Europcar) 2. Clinton Robert Avery (Champion System) 3. Blaz Furdi (Tirol Cycling Team)

SEB Tartu GP 2012, cl 1.1

1. Rene Mandri (Endura Racing) 2. Blaz Furdi (Tirol Cycling Team) 3.Paul Foss (Endura Racing)