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"It is not unlikely that we will have 2 group finishes and the bonuses from sprint will be decisive," said the representative of the Estonian National Team Gert Jõeäär. "I am not in as good a shape as I was last year but you never know. We have a strong team and we might still win."

 

Instead of 3 days the Tour of Estonia will be held in 2 stages during 2 days. On Friday's stage the riders will take on a course of 192 km from Tallinn to Tart and on Saturday a course of 150 km in Tartu Grand Prix. In comparison with the last year unfortunately the individual relay start race in Tallinn Old Town and the stage in Viimsi have been left out.

 

"The times in the cycling world are not the easiest - not only in Estonia but also elsewhere. For the Estonians it is going to be even harder to take the overall win," said the race director Mr. Indrek Kelk. "Our logo is derived from Aavo Pikkuus's logo and he was a tough rider so neither can we give up and hope to be back in Tallinn Old Town next year."

 

This year's Tour of Estonia brings here 12 teams - 2 UCI Pro Continental Teams, 6 UCI Continental Teams and 4 national teams. Leonid Krasnov from Rusvelo who was crowned as the King of the Mountain last year, said that making the competition shorter has changed a lot. "It is a different race from last year. All the tactics and structure need to be changed but we are not going to leave the win for the others."

 

This year's tour will reach everyone interested via our live transfer. The broadcast will be available from tomorrow 10.50 on the website of Postimees (http://www.postimees.ee). The start of the 1st stage will be given tomorrow at 11 o'clock in front of hotel Ülemiste.

 

Photo by Kaimo Puniste from last year's start of Tallinn-Tartu stage