After a hilly route of 165 km, Armenia, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Moldova, San Marino and Serbia will know the names of their new national champions
7 riders got away in what might be the winning move: Giacamo Scarponi, Petrov, Ivanov, Helminen, Tamuridise, Ahmed Ahmed and Korkotyan. But in the first kilometers they didn't manage to gain a big gap even though in the last half of the race it grew to over 10 minutes
A few kilometers later, Stevic, Veikkanen and Giancecchi attacked and joined the leading group. Paolo Scarponi and Saracini also attacked but they didn't manage to join the leading group before the last 2 laps of the race. With Stevic there, we have a at least one rider from each nation that is competing today
With only 2 laps left from the race, the leading group split into a few small groups. 5 riders maintained in the lead: Ahmed Ahmed, Veikkanen, Stevic, Giacamo Scarponi,Giancecchi. The first 3 seem to have secured their national titles, while the last 2 will probably fight for the San Marino title
Before the last ascents of the day, Stevic accelerated and the only one able to keep it up with him was Giancecchi, which pretty much secures the San Marino title for the Ultra Adventure rider
Veikkanen was leading the chase behind them, while Paolo Scarponi seems to be the strongest rider, catching and leaving behind the other escapes even though he rode almost the whole race all by himself
At the top of the last hill of the day, Stevic made his final move and left Giancecchi behind as well
Stevic wins today's race and becomes the new Serbian Champion!
Giancecchi hanged on in front of Scarponi and took the San Marion title!
Veikkanen is the new Finn Champion! He lost the third place to Scarponi, but the Wiggle rider won't be riding in any distinctive jersey next year
Ahmed Ahmed took the 5th place and he is the new Bulgarian Champion!
Tamuridise took the Greek title, while Ivanov took the Moldovan one!
Korkotyan finished only 10th today but it was enough to become the new Armenian champion!
Results
1
Ivan Stevic
Wikipedia
4h26'50
2
Dario Giancecchi
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
+ 36
3
Paolo Scarponi
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
+ 1'20
4
Jussi Veikkanen
Team IKEA - Bianchi
s.t.
5
Ahmed Ahmed
Warner Brothers
+ 2'42
6
Giacamo Scarponi
San Marino
s.t.
7
Grianni Tamuridise
Greece
s.t.
8
Ruslan Ivanov
Moldova
s.t.
9
Daniel Petrov
Bulgaria
+ 4'16
10
Tigran Korkotyan
Nespresso - SportZone
s.t.
11
Simone Saracini
San Marino
s.t.
12
Matti Helminen
Finland
s.t.
13
Jukka Vastaranta
SIC Radical - Timberland
+ 9'00
14
Aleksandr Pluchkin
Team B&O
s.t.
15
Danail Petrov
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
s.t.
16
Ruslan Sambris
Acqua & Sapone
s.t.
17
Igor Pajovic
Serbia
+ 9'24
18
Kimmo Kananen
Finland
s.t.
19
Juhi-Matti Alaluusua
Finland
s.t.
20
Dumitru Creciun
Moldova
s.t.
21
Krasimir Vasilev
Bulgaria
s.t.
22
Matti Pajari
Kenda Pro Cycling P/B Spinergy
s.t.
23
Stefan Hristov
Bulgaria
s.t.
24
Pekka Jääskeläinen
Finland
s.t.
25
Federico Valentini
San Marino
s.t.
26
Victor Mironov
Moldova
s.t.
27
Ivaïlo Gabrovski
Acqua & Sapone
+ 10'16
28
Sergiu Cioban
Team LEGO - Capri-Sonne
s.t.
29
Filippo Scarponi
San Marino
s.t.
30
Petar Panayotov
SIC Radical - Timberland
s.t.
31
Dragan Spasic
Serbia
s.t.
32
Vitaly Zemlianoi
Moldova
s.t.
33
Igor Pugaci
Moldova
s.t.
34
Georgios Tentsos
Greece
+ 10'52
35
Giannis Tamouridis
Greece
s.t.
36
Kjell Carlström
THE CONTROL TEAM
s.t.
37
Sergey Sarkisov
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
On paper Saracini was the favorite to the take the San Marino title, but it was Valentini who got it
After a great win in the RR, Stevic takes becomes the Serbian National Champion in the TT as well
Vastaranta was an important opponent but Veikkanen retained the title won last year. This year he is the Finn champion in both RR and TT
The third rider to make the double in this minor European Championships, was Korkotyan, who get the Armenian title even though he is anything but a time - trialist
Petrov got the Bulgarian title in front of Gabrovski, who was quite a real threat for the Benfica rider
Pluchkin had no problems taking the Moldovian title, after a disappointing road race. He was also the fastest rider today with the time of 1 hour 5 minutes and 12 seconds
Tamuridise took the win in the RR in the Greek competition, but the TT went to Tamouridis
Results
1
Aleksandr Pluchkin
Team B&O
1h05'12
2
Jussi Veikkanen
Team IKEA - Bianchi
+ 1'50
3
Jukka Vastaranta
SIC Radical - Timberland
+ 2'10
4
Danail Petrov
Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Michelin
+ 2'18
5
Ivaïlo Gabrovski
Acqua & Sapone
+ 2'35
6
Vitaly Zemlianoi
Moldova
+ 2'54
7
Ivan Stevic
Wikipedia
+ 3'02
8
Tommi Martikainen
Finland
+ 3'03
9
Petar Panayotov
SIC Radical - Timberland
+ 3'04
10
Ahmed Ahmed
Warner Brothers
+ 3'06
11
Stefan Hristov
Bulgaria
+ 3'08
12
Igor Pajovic
Serbia
+ 3'15
13
Matti Pajari
Kenda Pro Cycling P/B Spinergy
+ 3'25
14
Giannis Tamouridis
Greece
s.t.
15
Kimmo Kananen
Finland
+ 3'28
16
Matti Helminen
Finland
+ 3'30
17
Dumitru Creciun
Moldova
+ 3'31
18
Ruslan Sambris
Acqua & Sapone
+ 3'34
19
Dragan Spasic
Serbia
s.t.
20
Krasimir Vasilev
Bulgaria
+ 3'49
21
Grianni Tamuridise
Greece
+ 3'54
22
Pekka Jääskeläinen
Finland
+ 3'56
23
Federico Valentini
San Marino
+ 4'01
24
Simone Saracini
San Marino
+ 4'10
25
Juhi-Matti Alaluusua
Finland
+ 4'11
26
Daniel Petrov
Bulgaria
+ 4'14
27
Kjell Carlström
THE CONTROL TEAM
+ 4'18
28
Georgios Tentsos
Greece
+ 4'24
29
Giacamo Scarponi
San Marino
+ 4'30
30
Victor Mironov
Moldova
+ 4'36
31
Dario Giancecchi
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
+ 4'37
32
Paolo Scarponi
Wiggle Pro Cycling Team
+ 4'38
33
Ruslan Ivanov
Moldova
+ 4'41
34
Tigran Korkotyan
Nespresso - SportZone
+ 4'54
35
Sergey Sarkisov
Team Ultra Adventure Pro Cycling - Sponsored by Hello Kitty
