Should obviously be an easy task for the likes of Nadiradze and Nechita, as long as they've got the legs to finish the race. Will also be interesting whether huge Moldovan favourite Pluchkin can hold the pressure.
Already in the very first kilometres of racing, a group of four breaks clear of the small peloton and builds up a huge advantage. Armavia having strength in numbers with Arabuli and Arakelyan. Vlatos, riding as a loanee for Koppert, also joins the fun, as does Hasta.
It doesn't take very long at all for the four to realize that they've already secured themselves three of the titles, as the gap blasts up to twenty minutes very quickly. Interesting battle for the Armenian title between the two Armavia riders, while Vlatos and Hasta are sure of their respective jerseys.
With a little more than thirty kms remaining, Sambris attacks, to put pressure on Pluchkin in the Moldovan battle that's still very much on back in the main group.
Pluchkin does get a little nervous, and soon accelerates as well, closing the gap up to Sambris, with the two Bulgarians Panayotov and Petrov marking each other just behind.
Pluchkin isn't satisfied with just jumping across to his rival however. This year's Tour third just ups the pace a little more, and everyone else cracks. Sambris forms a chasing duo together with Panayotov, who distances Petrov here.
Meanwhile at the front, Hasta makes his bid for victory with an attack in the final ten ks. No response from either of the two Armenians, who've clearly decided to fight for this in the final sprint for the line.
Vlatos gives it his last bit of energy to get back up to Hasta as the road starts to rise in the final kilometer, and Arabuli responds with a quick jump on his right side. Arakelyan seems to be running out of steam meanwhile, as a gap appears between them.
Hasta timed his move perfectly, and holds the other three off to "win" the race, and more importantly, claim the Turkish road title! Vlatos takes second as best Greek, whilst Arabuli stays in front of Arakelyan in the Armenian battle.
A jump back to the remaining riders shows that Panayotov has been dropped by Sambris, who is slowly but surely closing Pluchkin's advantage. This could end up in a man against man sprint between the two Moldovans!
However, realizing that his rival is closing in, Pluchkin goes into time trial mode and extends the gap over the final few kilometres, and finishes well in front of Sambris, who clearly went a bit too far into the red zone while chasing.
Panayotov almost makes it back to Sambris in the end, and easily retains the Bulgarian green, white and red jersey. Petrov simply couldn't match him when he would've had to.
Several minutes later, the main field crosses the line, with Nadiradze taking the sprint along with the Georgian crown. Abbasov finishes inside the group and thus beats a dropped Asadov in Azerbaijan's race.
The aforementioned Asadov ends up last in the race, pipped by Romania's Nechita in the sprint from a gruppetto of two. Over half an hour behind the breakaway, but still enough for Nechita to claim Romania's title.
Nadiradze can again just enjoy his ride, knowing that he doesn't have any competitors. Obviously not a great time from the Georgian, but still enough to make it a double nats victory.
After losing out in the road race, Asadov takes revenge by topping Abbasov here in the TT. No double for either one of the two Azerbaijan riders.
Hasta manages to add a TT jersey to his collection though. Karagobek simply can't match his compatriot in this discipline either.
The Armenian title also goes to the Emu squad, and Artur Grigrian. Although Armavia had the strength in numbers, and the better time at the checkpoints, they all fade towards the end, missing out on the victory.
The two Bulgarians, Petrov and Panayotov, are very evenly matched on both checkpoints, but in the end it's the latter who takes advantage of his superior climbing capacity to take his number of jerseys to two, winning by just five seconds!
Nechita takes it easy in his last race for Focused, and will return to Jack Wolfskin with two jerseys in his luggage. Pretty strong time from the Romanian in fact.
As expected, Vlatos is unchallenged in the Greek race. A very successful championship for the youngster, who prevails in both disciplines, no doubt making his manager very happy.
Last man out on the course dominates, just like expected. Pluchkin even catches second best man on the day, Vlatos, in the final part of the race. Ruslan Sambris did everything in his power, but it's far from enough anyway.
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Georgia
Greece
Moldova
Romania
Turkey
