Peron Finishes Top 10 Overall at Tour of Estonia

27 May 2017

Race: Tour of Estonia, stage 2

Start/Finish: Tartu/Tartu, Estonia

Distance: 172.8km

TARTU, ESTONIA— Teammates again proved crucial to help Andrea Peron finish top 10 overall at the Tour of Estonia on Saturday in a fast circuit race for the second and final stage through a major university town.

On a day that began with a mass-start children’s bike race for more than 5,000 local families and continued with a youth street-basketball tournament in Tartu’s main park, the Tour of Estonia provided top sport entertainment over a 9.8km course with two steady climbs for the starting peloton of just 73 riders.

Breakaways came and went in the first five laps, with Quentin Valognes striking out early for Team Novo Nordisk under sunny skies and a constant headwind on the flat finish. With no large teams able to control the race, nervous activity continued at the front until a four-rider escape finally set itself up with a three-minute advantage until the 15th of 18 laps.

The Estonian National Team sent Gert Joeaar off on the final lap in a solo attack with an advantage that grew as large as 20 seconds. Five seconds back Latvia’s Emils Liepens edged stage one winner Karl Patrick Lauk, who went on to win the overall classification.

Peron found teammates Stephen Clancy, Gerd De Keijzer and Umberto Eco in front of him for the final two kilometers, constructing a sprint train for the Italian rider to keep him safe and fast for his fifth place sprint in the group and sixth overall on the day. With his result on Saturday, Peron held on to 10th overall at the Tour of Estonia, two seconds from ninth and 1:03 from Lauk in first.

Team Novo Nordisk Director Pavel Cherkasov

“It came back together after the breakaway and just got faster each lap. The Estonian kid who won was as much as 20 seconds ahead of the peloton the whole last lap, so Clancy, Gerd and Umberto all went to the front to lead Andrea safely at the front for the sprint. Excellent teamwork today.”

Andrea Peron

“We are here with a young team, and all day I saw the guys really pushing themselves hard to help me. They are young, but they wanted to show what they are capable of. It’s really nice to see the whole team pushing for me, and it makes me try as best I can.”

Results: