40th International TS-kortteliajot

Preview

The biggest upset was announced just before the start: Kari Myyrylainen of TuUL, a five time winner of the race, won't participate. Some of the other top riders of TuUL couldn't start the race because of illness, but TuUL was the biggest team in the race with a great number of starters. Also, Esa Skytta of TuUL won the 26th Mynamaen ajot on Saturday, April 26, so things were looking pretty good for TuUL.

Race Distance - 72 kms:

 1. Andrus Aug (Estonia) TuUL			1.38.20
 2. Bjarke Nielsen (Denmark)			
 3. Andres Lauk (Estonia) TuUL			   
 4. Niclas Ekstrom (?) IF Lanken
 5. Sigvard Kukk (Estonia)
 6. Hakan Isacsson (Sweden)
 7. Alges Maasikmets (Estonia)
 8. Janne Varala (Finland) IF-Kraft
 9. Ari Lahtinen (Finland) RuY
10. Petri Jokivuori (Finland) LaKa
11. Esko Salminen (Finland) RuY
12. Stefan Adamsson (Sweden)
13. Sixten Wacstrom (Finland) Akilles
14. Esa Skytta (Finland) TuUL
15. Toni Korin (Finland) Akilles
16. Margus Joksi (Finland) TuUL
17. Mikael Hannus (Finland) Akilles
18. Juris Mikulens (Latvia)
19. Andrius Zaleckis (Lithuania)
20. Erik Putsepp (Estonia) TuUL
21. Bjorn Stenvall (Finland) TuUL
22. Ville Keskimaki (Finland) TuUL
23. Petri Tynkkynen (Finland) LaKa
24. Johan Wansen (?) IF Lanken
25. Jani Tulkki (Finland) RuY
26. Tomi Eloranta (Finland) HTP-V
27. Kjell Calstrom (?) IF Lanken
28. Helmet Tammkorv (Estonia)
29. Johan Jarvinen (Finland) Akilles
30. Jukka Heinikainen (Finland) IF Lanken
31. Rikard Karlsson (?) IF Lanken
32. Oscar Stenstrom (Finland) IF Lanken
33. Antti Tuukkanen (Finland) IF Lanken		all s.t.
34. Kristoffer Aberg (Finland) Akilles		   0.36

These riders were dropped out of the race within the first 30 laps after
every second lap:

35. Andris Spents (Latvia)			30 laps
36. Urmas Joksi (Finland) TuUL			28 laps
37. Mikko Nurmela (Finland) Oun-PP		26 laps
38. Caj Orpana (Finland) KoPy			24 laps
39. Oskari Kargu (Estonia)			22 laps
40. Sami Hiltunen (Finland) LaKa		20 laps
41. Manu Myllymaki (Finland) RuY		18 laps
42. Juha Kakko (Finland) KoPy			16 laps
43. Valerijus Novikovas (Lithuania)		14 laps
44. Antti Lehikoinen (Finland) HTP-V		12 laps
45. Samuel Holm (Finland) KoPy			10 laps
46. Matti Vesala (Finland) TuUL			 8 laps
47. Mike Miikkola (Finland) JoensPy		 6 laps
48. Tuomas Holm (Finland) KoPy			 4 laps
49. Samu Laine (Finland) RuY			 2 laps

50. Rene Hansen (Denmark)			abandon
51. Janne Maki (Finland) LaihLu			abandon
52. Mathias Hannus (Finland) Akilles		abandon
53. Risto Paivansalo (Finland) Akilles		abandon

Jukka Heinikainen (Finland) of IF Lanken won the Telecom Finland sprint, the
30th lap.

Race Report

The Estonian who rides for TuUL with finnish license won clearly ahead of second-placed Bjarke Nielsen of Denmark. TuUL's Andres Lauk of Estonia was third.

"Winning is always difficult but today it was more difficult than usually. One had to do more efforts because many of team mates didn't start", Aug said.

Indeed there were three strong riders of TuUL who didn't start because of illness. Also Kari Myyrylainen annouced just before the start that he would not start.

There were number of small attacks but no big break-aways.

"During the race I tried really hard to attack but today it didn't work", the 24-year old Aug confessed.

"I can't be satiesfied because I was seeking for victory. I just could't respond to Aug's sprint", said 21-year old Dane, Bjarke Nielsen, who finished second behind Aug.

The most unlucky rider of the race was Andres Lauk, who had to stop for three times because of mechanical failure. Because of the rules he was still third though he lost three laps. Lauk had brand new bike for the race because his original bike was completely broken in the crash during the Tour of Lower Saxony.

"The main thing is that our club succeeded. It didn't matter if Andrus, Ville Keskimaki or I won", Lauk said with happiness.