Uudised

All women's teams at the start have at least two U23 riders. Many of them start their first international UCI 2.1 category race. In addition to young riders, there are also cyclists who belong to a professional team or have long experience in racing.

Carina Schrempf, who represents National Team Austria, belongs to the Fenix-Deceuninck pro team. The 28-year-old rider has been competing in Estonia already in 2015, but in a completely different field. Schrempf, who did athletics and was a middle-distance runner for 10 years, last attended the U23 European Championships in athletics in Estonia. She had to end her running career due to an Achilles tendon injury. „I simply love riding my bike but I never would have imagined that this could turn into a professional career," said Schrempf. The rider is already waiting to compete in the Ladies Tour of Estonia with the National Team Austria, where is another experienced cyclist, Kathrin Schweinberger, who rides for the CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling women's team and has achieved a high 7th place in the Scheldeprijs one-day race this year. "We are aiming for a podium place on Saturday," Schrempf confirmed the National Team Austria plans.

Dana Rozlapa, representative of the National Team Latvia, who is a seven-time Latvian champion in the time trial, is also coming to the start with long competition experience. "I expect a strong opening of the season and I hope to achieve a good result, because the Ladies Tour of Estonia is my first competition this year," said Rozlapa.
She hopes that a small group will separate from the main group during the race and from which the winner will be determined. "I am quite sure that the cobblestone climb will decide who has a chance to take the victory this year. Personally, I don't like cobblestones, but when I ride on them, I rely on my experience that I have gained from racing in Belgium. Usually, riders who do not have so much experience find it more difficult to ride on cobblestones," confirmed the Latvian.

The National Team Sweden consists of the Swedish road race champion, Jenny Rissveds, who did a strong solo ride at the Swedish championships last year and beat her nearest competitor by six minutes. The 28-year-old Rissveds has already opened her winning record this year by taking the overall victory in the women's tour Gracia-Orlová in the Czech Republic. Rissveds has shown a strong performance last year as well when she finished the same race in second place.
In addition to the Swede, Yuliia Biriukova, the representative of the National Team Ukraine, has also shown good result in this year's Gracia-Orlová race, where she took 10th place overall. The Ukrainian has more TOP 10 places to show. She finished eighth in the Giro Rosa Mediterraneo and seventh in the one-day race La Classqiue Morbihan.

Among the representatives of the National Team Finland, Lotta Henttala deserves a mention. The 33-year-old woman represents the AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step women's team in 2023. In the women's highest category race Miron Ronde van Drenthe held in March, Henttala took sixth place and in the one-day race Danilith Nokere Koerse she also took sixth place. In the Setmana Ciclista-Volta Comunitat Valenciana Fèmines, a tour held at the beginning of the year, Henttala took a second place in the first and second stages.

The National Team Lithuania comes to the start with young riders. Skaiste Kamile Mikasauskaite is the junior time trial champion.

Among the Estonian women's teams, the most junior class riders are in the Lõuna-Eesti Rattaklubi mixed team, where also 36-year-old Laura Lepasalu is riding. As a team member, she will be a great help to the young riders, because she has a lot of experience and riding skill, as she has trained in France and even reached a professional contract. 

It is worth noting that the National Team Estonia has young riders Elisabeth Ebras and Laura Lizette Sander, who both rode last year in the junior class and were strong competitors to each other both in the road race and in the time trial. 

The participants list of Ladies Tour of Estonia can be found HERE, race timetable HERE.