A Balkan feel to this second cobbled multi-nation national championship with Serbia and Croatia joined by Romania The remaining nations are stretched across Asia with Iran, India and Mongolia also on the start line.
18k to go and Antonijevic has just attacked a group of favorites and opened up a 22-second lead. The chase group is 12 strong. Iran the only nation where it looks decided at this point, with Ganjkhanlou well ahead of his teammate and the only other Iranian in the race Khodayari.
10k banner, Antonijevic’s lead expanded to over 30 seconds and is now 28 seconds as Dobre attacks out of the chase group. The group got one stronger as Kalaba, who had been dropped earlier, was able to rejoin.
6.6k to go, halfway through the final cobbled sector. Antonijevic has a 16 second lead over 7 riders, Dobre having been joined by Mestric, Erdenesuren, Batmunkh, Duric, Y. Singh and Frankovic. Another 5 riders are 20 seconds further back and Kalaba is further back still having been dropped again. If it stays this way Dobre and Singh have Romania and India, respectively, wrapped up but the other 3 are still up for grabs.
As they complete the final cobbled sector Duric, Erdenesuren and Mestric bridge up to Antonijevic.
A few meters later Erdenesuren and Mestric attack dropping the other two, Duric is able to bridge back up but Antonijevic looks cooked and Batmunkh reaches him.
Batmunkh and Antonijevic are able to rejoin the front 3 but the latter is immediately gapped as the sprint opens with 1.5k to go. Mongolia will be decided in the sprint, the others look settled at this point unless Frankovic can make a heroic comeback.
Mestric wins the race and the Croatian title. Duric looks good for 2nd and the Serbian title. Erdenesuren and Batmunkh neck-and-neck for Mongolia.
Erdenesuren is 3rd and the Mongolian champion.
Dobre and Yanglem Rojit Singh finish together in the next group and are the Romanian and Indian Champions. Ganjkhanlou finishes 10th to take the Iranian title.
Results
1
Matija Mestric (CRO)
Ekoi - Le Creuset
1h10'37
2
Dorde Duric (SRB)
Cedevita
s.t.
3
Munkhtulga Erdenesuren (MGL)
Euskotren - Pays Basque
s.t.
4
Maral-Erdene Batmunkh
Genii Hyundai N Cycling
s.t.
5
Mateo Frankovic
Moser - Sygic
s.t.
6
Vlad-Nicolae Dobre (ROM)
Cervelo Test Team
s.t.
7
Yanglem Rojit Singh (IND)
Babymetal
s.t.
8
Goran Antonijevic
cycleYorkshire
s.t.
9
Enkhtaivan Bolor-Erdene
Aker - MOT
+ 59
10
Mohammad Ganjkhanlou (IRN)
Xero Racing
s.t.
11
Eduard Grosu
Rabobank
s.t.
12
Aleksandar Roman
Grieg-Maersk
+ 1'32
13
Ronaldo Laitonjam Singh
Sony - Force India 2
s.t.
14
Dusan Kalaba
Minions
+ 2'42
15
Emil Dima
Rabobank
s.t.
16
Naveen John
EA Vesuvio
+ 3'18
17
Veljko Stojnic
Cedevita
+ 4'48
18
Dusan Rajovic
Cedevita
+ 5'15
19
Pavel Potocki
Specialized
+ 6'49
20
Milos Borisavljevic
Zain-Omantel
s.t.
21
Fran Miholjevic
Sony - Force India
s.t.
22
Esow Alben
Sony - Force India 2
+ 7'31
23
Viktor Potocki
Lierse SK - Pizza Ullo PCTeam
+ 8'20
24
Farzad Khodayari
Xero Racing
+ 10'37
25
Bilguunjargal Erdenebat
Oxxo - Frisby
+ 12'17
26
George Alexandru Stancu
MOL Cycling Team
DNF
Time Trial
We’re not expecting much competition for the TT titles. The two Iranians are fairly evenly matched but also fairly bad at riding TTs.
Battle Iran is resolved early with Ganjkhanlou going 27 seconds faster than Khodayari. That is back-to-back doubles for Ganjkhanlou.
John lives up to his favorite status going 49 seconds faster than Yanglem Rojit Singh to win the Indian National title.
Borisavljevic is 16 seconds faster than Stojnic to win the Serbian title.
Dima (+0’49) and Viktor Potocki (+2’02) win the expected Romanian and Croatian titles.
Erdenebat, riding last, wins the race and the Mongolian title.
