The first of three European Mixed National Championships groups and this time, we've a bunch of 5 nations battling for both a road and the TT-champion.
Most prominent nation will be Israel with 6 riders at the start, so this may be the most interesting "race in race" to follow:
As for the participating teams, Sauber Petronas (4 riders in 3 nations, Liechtenstein "safe"...) can hope for some national titles here, while PFG-Armavia may hope for one of their 3 Israelis to grab this title.
Israel
Turkey
Daniel Eliad (Kenya Airways)
Mustafa Carsi (Evian-MIAT)
Roy Goldstein (Evian-MIAT)
Gökhan Hasta (Adira-Isq)
Ran Margaliot (Sauber Petronas)
Dor Dviri (PFG-Armavia)
Liechtenstein
Maxim Burlutsky (PFG-Armavia)
Idan Shapira (PFG-Armavia)
Dimitri Jiriakov (Sauber Petronas)
Benedikt Mundle (Sauber Petronas)
San Marino
Georgia
Giacomo Scarponi (Sauber Petronas)
Paolo Scarponi (Wiggle)
Irakli Bablidze (Bouygues)
Marco Zafferani (Wiggle)
David Chokheli (Team Privatbank)
Up for the road race, facing a 110km hilly parcours and a hilltop-finish. With only 15 riders at the start, it's hard to predict where the strongest riders on paper will end up.
Still in the first lap, two riders (Hasta/Adira and Zafferani/Wiggle) jump behind a 3-men-group that went earlier. The two catch up quickly and will build a 5-men-breakaway group in this 15-men-race:
Mundle (Liechtenstein/Sauber)
Eliad (Israel/Kenya Airways)
Goldstein (Israel/Evian)
Hasta (Turkey/Adira)
Zafferani (San Marino/Wiggle)
So except of the two Georgian riders, every participating nation has at least one rider in the break..
..which established a 30-minutes gap quickly, leaving no question wether the "bunch" behind would manage to narrow the gap or not.
So we're already 8km before finish and some of those five riders may already be happy enough to take a national road title:
Goldstein though is one of two Israelis in the leading group and certainly knows that he ain't as strong as compatriot Eliad on the final climb. So he gives it a go now!
He's reeled in 1.3km before finish though and the five enter the final climb alltogether. So the two most interesting questions are: who will take out this race and who of the two Israelis will be the new champion of their country?
Daniel Eliad is the answer on both questions! He dominates the climb and takes the race by 12" on Hasta and Mundle! So no luck for Goldstein, who finishes 5th.
Favorites like Scarponi (San Marino) or Jiriakov (Liechtenstein) obviously had no chance with the bunch giving up on the chase and they finish almost 30 minutes later. In a "fight" for the Georgian road title, Bablidze (Bouygues) beats Chokheli (Privatbank) in a boring "sprint" of the "peloton".
Road titles/
Daniel Eliad (Kenya Airways) Gökhan Hasta (Adira-Isq) Benedikt Mundle (Sauber Petronas) Marco Zafferani (Wiggle) Irakli Bablidze (Bouygues)
Now to the ITT.. especially Goldstein may hope for kind of a redemption for his empty-handed effort in the road race, as he's the favorite for the Israel-group (and also the whole competition).
Georgia/ Irakli Bablidze takes the double in both disciplines, beating compatriot Chokheli by 32" for the TT-title!
Turkey/ Same goes for Gökhan Hasta, who wins a close battle against Carsi.. at the intermediate, the two were seperated by only 3", but Hasta had the stronger finish and beats Carsi by 8" for the title. Definitely an interesting fight though!
Liechtenstein/ Dimitri Jiriakov bounces back from his disappointing road race and wins the Liechtenstein-TT in style.
San Marino/ Also Paolo Scarponi fights back and takes the TT-title. No problem at all against teammate Zafferani this time, who's about 40" slower here.
Isreal/ The two strongest against the clock come from Israel today - Dviri (PFG) and Goldstein (Evian).. the latter puts up a strong performance, growing his 10"-gap at the intermediate to 19" at the finish! So he finishes first overall and takes the TT-title for Israel as well. Huge fight by Dviri, but somehow deserved for Goldstein.
Israel
Turkey
Liechtenstein
San Marino
Georgia
