Baltic Chain Tour kicked off with 4,6 km prologue in Estonian capital Tallinn. Fastest man on the track was Tallinn’s own man, ex-Cofidis rider Gert Jõeäär.
He clocked 5.51,89 with average speed of 47,1 km/h. Being the leader of Estonian National Team Gert had the privilege to start in the end and took the win by 2,6 seconds over 2015 world road championship bronze Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania). Split-time at half way belonged to Bahrein-Merida rider Navardauskas though. Quite symbolically all three baltic states got their share on podium, as the third quickest today was latvian Andzs Flaksis. His result 5.59,562 was top result for quite a while. In the end only the top three riders made it under six minutes.
According to UCI regulations top three shall have after prologue following leader jersey’s – Gert Jõeäär will wear overall leader jersey, Ramunas Navardauskas shall be in polkadot and Andzs Flaksis in green jersey. Best young riders white jersey belongs to Leo Appelt from Germany.
Stage 1 will be 152,3 km long on route from Talllinn to Ravila and back. Festive start shall be 11 o’clock at Toompea hill (near Estonian Parliament) ja expected finish time around 2:30 PM near Pirita velodrome.