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Tallinn GP - 1.3
Estonia, May 23, 2003
2002 Results Results Past winners
Frenchmen double up on Estonian soil
By Jean-François Quénet in Tallinn
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It looks like Estonians are returning a favour to the French, who have been used to welcoming them on their soil since they were freed from the USSR back in 1991. Jaan Kirsipuu, Janek Tombak and their compatriots now invite their respective teams, Ag2r and Cofidis. Cofidis took the first two places today with Frenchmen Arnaud Coyot and Médéric Clain.
After only one of the 13 laps of 15 km, Coyot became a member of a successful breakaway with Linas Balciunas (Oktos-MBK), Anatoli Chaburka (Belarus), Kazimierz Stafiej (MROZ), Andrei Pchelkin (Russia), Lauri Aus (Ag2r) and Riko Raim (Estonia). For two hours, the bunch kept fighting to come across, but finally gave up. But the gap was no bigger than 2'15" with four laps to go when Clain and Zbigniew Piatek (Mroz) jumped from a group of 15 counter-attackers.
When they reached the leaders with one and half laps to go, Cofidis was in an ideal position with two men. Coyot was the first to try and go on his own. But he got caught. Clain did the same with 3 km to go and got caught as well. When Coyot tried again with only one and half kilometre to the line, it was the right move. Then Clain outsprinted the rest of the group ahead of Aus.
"This is my first win as a professional," Coyot said. "I turned pro only this year and the beginning has been very difficult. I rode mostly in Belgium and didn't get any result. I started to feel good last week in the Tour of Picardy where I come from."
Coyot, 23, had won one race last year as an amateur, the Ronde du Canigou, under the colours of CC Nogent-sur-Oise. Being from the North side of Paris, he was closely watched by Cofidis which is based in North of France.
"It's always good to take a win, even if the race here wasn't the world championship," he added. "For the morale and for my team, it's great. Coming here, we had to do a good result. I can see that it’s as difficult for an Estonian to win at home as it is for a Frenchman to win in France. We're often victims of Frenchmen riding behind Frenchmen."
Great favourite Jaan Kirsipuu couldn't move too much and naturally protected his friend and team-mate Aus. Doing so, he probably saved the energy he'll need to win the second of the two UCI 1.3 races, the Ühispanga Tartu Tänavasõit, also named in English "Road Race on the streets of Tartu". Tartu is his home town, and he can’t hide that he wants his 8th win this year on Saturday.
Photography
Images by Jean-Francois Quenet
- The podium of the Tallinn GP Mederic Clain (2nd), Arnaud Coyot (1st) and Laui Aus (3rd)
- Coyot and Clain discuss their race afterwards
- Jaan Kirispuu (Ag2r-Prevoyance) pictured with his father and coach Rein. He was one of the big favourites in Estonia for the Tallinn GP
Results - 180 km
1 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 4.18.28 (41.78 km/h) 2 Mederic Clain (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.14 3 Lauri Aus (Est) Ag2r-Prevoyance 4 Zbigniew Piatek (Pol) Mroz 5 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 6 Kazimierz Stafiej (Pol) Mroz 7 Andrei Pchelkin (Rus) Russian National Team 8 Jacky Durand (Fra) Mixed Team 2.05 9 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 2.08 10 Jonathan Dayus (GBr) Team Ringerike 11 Erki Pütsep (Est) Ag2r-Prevoyance 12 Andrei Laptsenkov (Est) Estonian U23 Team 2 13 Kalle Kriit (Est) Estonian U23 Team 1 14 Sebastian Jezierski (Pol) Legia 15 Fredrik Johansson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 16 Stephane Berges (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 17 Viachaslau Barei (Blr) Belarus National Team 18 Serguey Krushevskiy (Uzb) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 19 Kjell Carlström (Fin) Finland National Team 20 Linas Balciunas (Ltu) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 2.19 21 Cory Lange (Can) Marco Polo Cycling Team 3.24 22 Piotr Mazur (Pol) Bonda 3.59 23 Ivan Terenin (Rus) Russian National Team 4.06 24 Krzysztof Krzywy (Pol) Mroz 25 Tuomas Turunen (Fin) Finland National Team 26 Jacek Walczak (Pol) Legia 4.12 27 Oleg Zhukov (Rus) Russian National Team 28 Risto Usin (Est) Estonian U23 Team 1 5.01 29 Raivo Maimre (Est) Estonian U23 Team 1 30 Dennis Rasmussen (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 31 Mart Ojavee (Est) NET 32 Max Nielsen (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 33 Denis Birjukov (Est) Estonian U23 Team 2 34 Markku Ainsalu (Est) Estonian National Team 35 Tadeusz Korzeniewski (Pol) Bonda 36 Mikko Siltanen (Fin) Finland National Team 5.07 37 Aldis Abolins (Lat) Latvian National Team 7.40 38 Indrek Rannama (Est) Estonian National Team 39 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Latvian National Team 40 Romet Puuram (Est) Estonian U23 Team 2 41 Allan Aulik (Est) Estonian National Team 42 Mikko Autio (Fin) Finland National Team 43 Uladzimir Autka (Blr) Belarus National Team 44 Perttu Turku (Fin) Finland National Team 2 7.45 45 Adam Wadecki (Pol) Mroz 46 Martins Polakovs (Lat) Latvian National Team 47 Daniel Wasiewicz (Pol) Legia 11.49 48 Helmet Tamkõrv (Est) NET 17.16 49 Peep Mikli (Est) Mixed Team 50 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Team Mälarenergi 51 Mattias Carlsson (Swe) Team Ringerike 52 Kalvis Eisaks (Lat) Latvian National Team 53 Mika Vilen (Fin) Finland National Team 2 54 Vladislav Borisov (Rus) Russian National Team 55 Maxim Karpatchiev (Rus) Russian National Team 56 Petri Jokivuori (Fin) Finland National Team 2 57 Vadzim Kryvasheyeu (Blr) Belarus National Team 58 Oleg Grishkin (Rus) Russian National Team 59 Anatoli Chaburka (Blr) Belarus National Team 60 Jan-Magnus Mansner (Fin) Finland National Team 61 Konrad Lapa (Pol) Legia 62 Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 63 Anders Juhlin (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 64 Mateusz Rybczynski (Pol) Legia 65 Tommi Martikainen (Fin) Finland National Team 66 Christophe Agnolutto (Fra) Ag2r-Prevoyance 67 Marcus Junehalt (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 68 Johan Svensson (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 69 Henrik Oldin (Swe) Team Mälarenergi 70 Marek Salermo (Fin) Finland National Team 2 71 Timothy Wilson (Aus) Marco Polo Cycling Team 72 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Team Ringerike 73 Jay Sweet (Aus) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin 74 Kay Kermer (Ger) Marco Polo Cycling Team 75 Michael Larsen (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens 76 Frederic Bessy (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 77 Kam-Po Wong (HKg) Marco Polo Cycling Team 78 Ngai Ching Wong (HKg) Marco Polo Cycling Team 79 Rene Mandri (Est) Estonian U23 Team 2 80 Kert Väinsalu (Est) Estonian U23 Team 2 81 Philippe Gaumont (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone 82 Joachim Bohler (Nor) Team Ringerike 83 Gabriel Rasch (Nor) Team Ringerike Intermediate sprints Sprint 1: Erki Pütsep (Est) Ag2r-Prevoyance Sprint 2: Linas Balciunas (Ltu) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin Sprint 3: Lauri Aus (Est) Ag2r-Prevoyance Hill sprints Hill 1: Lauri Aus (Est) Ag2r-Prevoyance Hill 2: Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit par Téléphone Hill 3: Linas Balciunas (Ltu) MBK-Oktos-Saint-Quentin Courtesy of Gianfranco Bazzigaluppi
Past winners
2002 Oleg Grishkine (Rus) Moscow 1
