Bogdanovičs and Laizāne in Tukuma become the first Latvian champions in Gravel cycling – Cycling – Sportacentrs.com

Most of the male age groups competed in the Balcia City Combo 115km distance. Home team Māris Bogdanovičš became the champion in the Elite category, leaving behind his teammate Andris Vosekalna.

The fight was intense for almost the entire distance. As Māris said after the race, they looked for each other’s weaknesses for the last 30 kilometers to find a way to beat the other. Maris had worked especially hard on the track for the last two kilometers in training to know every detail by heart, especially on the descent, where he also managed to pull away, but Andris fell and the sporting spirit prevailed here – Bogdanović waited for Vosekalns to get up and resume driving, thus the battle for postponing the victory to the last meters of the track. Maris was faster at the finish by about a bike’s length.

Taking into account that this was an open championship in which participants from foreign countries could also take part, serious competition had arrived. The winner of the OPEN group, Lukas Talačka, ranked right after Mār and Andras. Finishing the TOP3 of the absolute rating. Looking at the OPEN group separately, the first six places were occupied by guests from abroad.

Sandijs Kļaviņš became the absolute winner of the amateur group, leaving behind Kaspars Sergis and the home team Arti Rozi, who fell on the last descent, thus losing hopes of becoming the champion in the absolute amateur rating.

Women’s and men’s senior age groups, as well as U18 groups, competed in the Erica Synths 60km distance. There was no shortage of intrigue throughout the entire competition. The two main competitors – Lija Laizāne and Dana Rožlapa knew about each other’s “weak places” and tried to use them accordingly.

Already at the beginning of the distance, Dana tried to make a breakaway, which also succeeded, but around the 12th km of the distance, it was achieved because of a failure to successfully communicate with the junior, who was also involved in the breakaway. The winner of the race was not known until the last kilometers, but Lija Laizāne managed to break away from the follower in the last technical section, thus becoming the winner of this race, leaving behind Dana Rožlapa and Zani Priedi from Tukumniec.
Renate Rodionova became the amateur champion, leaving behind Krista Pūčita and Monta Pavlović.

Although this was the first Latvian championship in this discipline, more than 150 participants had arrived, including 15 guests from Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark and Belgium, becoming the most attended gravel cycling competition that has been held in Latvia so far.

Thanks to the Gravel Bike Latvia team, who undertook the organization of this competition and raised the “bar” of gravel cycling much higher than it has been so far in local events. Without the support of friends, this would not be possible, so special thanks must be given to the insurance company Balcia Insurance, Erica Synth, Tukuma region, Sixt Latvia, Betsafe Sports, Shimano, Therabody, Pure Food, Water 885, FeelFree, Giant, 4Cyclists and More burgers.

Thanks also to the State Police, the National Guard, the security company Lynets and the volunteer helpers, which were more than 50.

Resources used:
lrf.lv

2023-07-03 15:10:00
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