19.03.2015
UCI race Tour of Estonia takes off with record number of participantsFrom May 28th to 30th Tour of Estonia, an UCI Europe Tour class 2.1, takes place for the third time. The number of competing cyclists this year is higher than ever - 19 teams have signed up for the race, among them 2 professional continental, 14 continental and 3 national teams. 
Photo by Karli Saul
"The maximum number of teams accepted for the tour this year is 20. This guarantees approximately 150 men in the start. At the moment we are still waiting for the final answers from a couple of professional continental teams and after that we will close the list. Teams have shown a high interest in participating Tour of Estonia and for the first time the list will be closed already a couple of months before the race," explains the situation Indrek Kelk, the Race Director of Tour of Estonia.
The Race Director says that the strongest riders this year are definitely the pro continental teams TEAM NOVO NORDISK and RUSVELO. Both of them are taking part in the higher level competitions and should be able to dominate the tour. "Speaking about the 14 continental teams, it is difficult to prefer anyone, as 8 - 10 among of them are in a very similar level. However, knowing the level of the German cycling sport, we hope the three German teams will bring more excitement and strategy into the race. On the other hand, riders from Denmark (RIWAL PLATFORM CYCLING TEAM) and Poland (ACTIVE JET) have always shown the high level as well," Kelk adds.
This year we will not see neither the winner of Tour of Estonia 2014, Eduard Michael Grosu with his team Nippo Vini Fantini, nor the other strong team CCC Sprandi Polkowice, competing in the tour. "It is because both of them received the wild card invitation to Giro d`Italia, held at the same time with our tour," explains Indrek Kelk.
"Of course we hope that the riders from Estonian National Team will compete for the high podium places also this year. Especially we expect Gert Jõeäär, the winner of Tour of Estonia 2013, to get the permission from his team Cofidis and participate," says Kelk.
A day after the tour on the 31st of May 34rd Tartu Rattaralli, the biggest popular road race in the Eastern Europe, will be held. Most of the elite riders competing in the tour will then hit the road together with thousands of popular riders. The program of Tartu Rattaralli also includes children's races with 3500 participants, which are the biggest cycling events for children in the world.
Team list of Tour of Estonia 2015 Stages of Tour of Estonia 2015 |
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