The men’s tour promises a tightly contested battle, with the home teams expected to have a good chance. There are two Estonian teams at the start: the continental Quick Pro Team and the national team.
Quick Pro Team’s roster includes three previous winners: Martin Laas (2015), Karl Patrick Lauk (2017, 2021), and Mihkel Räim (2019). “Personally, this season has been tough. Over the past month, I’ve been dealing with an old injury, which means I’ve been competing at about 70% capacity. Things are already getting better and will continue to improve, but I probably won’t be ‘Superman’ tomorrow yet,” said Räim, a former Israel Cycling Academy rider who is highly motivated by the development of this Estonian team. “I’m not giving up on myself yet, and the team around me is also quite strong. Tomorrow's finish is a bit different this year, which will make it interesting—there will definitely be a different kind of battle for positions,” he added.
In the women’s race, the Norwegian continental team Coop-Repsol appears to have the upper hand. Their line-up features last year’s winner, Eline Van Rooijen (Netherlands), as well as Estonians Laura Lizette Sander and Aidi Gerde Tuisk, who both recently competed in the grand tour Vuelta.
Sander finished third in last year’s Ladies Tour of Estonia but has struggled with various health issues this season. “Lately, I haven’t done intervals or much speed work in training. Luckily, my health is finally in order, and hopefully, things will keep getting better. I’ll go out there, do my best to help the team, and see what happens. I don’t have any big personal goals here; I just want to enjoy it and make the race as hard as possible,” said Sander.
Behind the organization of the Tour of Estonia is a team and an effort that not every sports fan may see or immediately understand. Race director Indrek Kelk acknowledges that while it is challenging, the positivity that the race brings outweighs the tough moments. “The race days and the emotions provided by both the riders and the spectators have kept the Tour of Estonia alive. This is the result of a huge amount of work, especially with such a small team and budget. Nowhere else in the world is a UCI race of this level organized with such a small budget,” said Kelk. According to him, the original ambition each year is to have a three-day tour, but for budgetary reasons, that happens perhaps one year out of five.
The men’s tour kicks off on Friday with the Tallinn–Tartu stage (196.4 km) and culminates on Saturday with the legendary Tartu GP (161.6 km). As mentioned at the start, there is a key change in this year’s route: all stages, including the Ladies Tour of Estonia, will pass through Town Hall Square before the decisive Lossi Street climb (see video of the section here). This means that fans can enjoy coffee at Town Hall Square while watching top cyclists battle it out.
The list of teams and riders can be found here, and the tour program here.
The Ladies Tour of Estonia will be contested as a one-stage race on Saturday, May 31. Meet the teams and riders here, and the program here.
Live race results will be available here, and GPS tracking of the convoy on Friday can be followed here (a separate link for Saturday will be provided later).
Due to budgetary reasons, there will be no live video broadcast this year, but be sure to keep an eye on the tour’s social media channels.
