Riders from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania do battle for their respective national championships.
Axelsson and Ansons were the strongest of a 5 man break, which had also included Alaluusua, Westling and Kristoff
The pair still held 5 minutes with 22km to go, as the pack are at last starting to attack each other
No rider can get clear of the peleton, but the gap is down to 3 minutes with 10km to go
With 8km remaining, Mandri launches an attack - to be countered by Oste-Macdonald, Vastaranata, Hagen, Konovalovas, and Larsson.
Hagen was the strongest
But is it too late - Ansons and Axelsson still lead by 1 minute
Vastaranta is close to Hagen, and they do look set to at least retain their national championships
Surely Ansons cant lose it now! Final corner for the Latvian, 500m to go
Oh no! He's crashed!!!
Axelsson moves into the lead, the line is so close now
The Swede celebrates!
But Vastaranta is the winner!!!
So, no the battle for 5th and the Lithuanian title - can Konovalovas hang on?
Not quite! Tomas Vaitkus passes him on the line!
Crossing 10th, Sony Ericsson's Fredrik Johansson will take the Swedish title since Axelsson is retiring. Just behind him theres a very tight battle for the Estonian jersey as Tombak just manages to sprint past Mandri to retain his title for the 3rd year running
1
Jukka Vastaranta
LA/MSS/PEARL JAM
4h48'33
2
Niklas Axelsson
ZENMIND - EVOLUTION
s.t.
3
Edvald Boasson Hagen
B&O
s.t.
4
Arturs Ansons
NIPPO CORPORATION
s.t.
5
Tomas Vaitkus
NIPPO CORPORATION
+ 38
6
Thor Hushovd
FESTINA
s.t.
7
Ignas Konovalovas
CREDIT LYONNAIS
s.t.
8
Andris Nauduzs
ZENMIND - EVOLUTION
s.t.
9
Gatis Smukulis
WHITE BEAR STEYR
s.t.
10
Fredrik Johansson
SONY ERICSSON
s.t.
11
Alexander Kristoff
LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT
s.t.
12
Dainius Kairelis
CHAMPION
s.t.
13
Janek Tombak
BRITISH AIRWAYS - CYCLINGNEWS
s.t.
14
René Mandri
CREDIT LYONNAIS
s.t.
15
Kurt-Asle Arvesen
NVIDIA
s.t.
16
Mattias Westling
GATORADE
s.t.
17
Johan Lindgren
ERNST & YOUNG
s.t.
18
Juhi-Matti Alaluusua
VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE
s.t.
19
Gustav Larsson
ZENMIND - EVOLUTION
s.t.
20
Jonas Bjelkmark
SONY ERICSSON
s.t.
21
Thomas Lövkvist
EUROSPORT
s.t.
22
Anders Lund
PHILIPS - HUMMEL
s.t.
23
Jussi Veikkanen
ACCUMALUX - FORMEX
s.t.
24
Drasutis Stundzia
ACCUMALUX - FORMEX
s.t.
25
Nicolas Brolin
SONY ERICSSON
+ 3'10
26
Magnus Bäckstedt
PROCYCLING - BBC
+ 3'34
27
Aleksei Saramotins
ZENMIND - EVOLUTION
s.t.
28
Freddy Johansson
SONY ERICSSON
s.t.
29
Erki Pütsep
ERNST & YOUNG
s.t.
30
Saulius Ruskys
ERNST & YOUNG
s.t.
31
Morten Hegreberg
B&O
s.t.
32
Sten Stenersen
B&O
+ 4'30
33
Raivis Belohvosciks
ACCUMALUX - FORMEX
s.t.
34
Ramunas Navardauskas
FESTINA
s.t.
35
Petter Renäng
SONY ERICSSON
s.t.
36
Max Öste-Macdonald
SONY ERICSSON
s.t.
37
Viktor Renäng
SONY ERICSSON
s.t.
38
Gert Rajala
AMERICAN SUZUKI
+ 6'15
39
Mads Kaggestad
BRITISH AIRWAYS - CYCLINGNEWS
s.t.
TT
Sweden are clearly the strongest TT nation as 4 of the top 5 today were swedes. Lovkvist was 5th and Backstedt 4th but just 4 seconds separated Johan Lindgren and Gustav Larsson - and it is Lindgren who won it.
Thor Hushovd comfortably won the Norwegian title but will be disappointed to miss out on the actual win today by less than a second on Lindgren.
Accumalux riders won 3 of the TT titles with Veikkanen, Stundzia and Belohvosciks - while René Mandri took the Estonian title.