The heavens open on the Tour of Estonia field during the opening 125km stage today, though dry conditions saw Ireland's Connor McConvey put in a great time trial later in the day.
Having finished as eventual overall runner up in the An Post Rás when it concluded last Sunday, Connor McConvey clearly did not overdo his celebrations, as he has already grabbed another really strong result.
The Belfast man started the Tour of Estonia today, with a split stage of a morning road race followed by a short time trial this evening.
McConvey finished in the main bunch this morning on the 125km opening stage, though he lost three seconds when a gap appeared in the bunch in the sprint finish won by Leonid Krasnov (Rusvelo). The stage was 10 laps of a 12.5km circuit in Viimsi.
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McConvey’s team mate and An Post Rás stage winner last week, Rico Rogers was best placed of the Synergy Baku team in 8th place.
In the 3km time trial later today, Thursday, in Tallinn old town the Irish man was a very good 7th, clearly finding the lumpy course with cobbled sections to his liking.
The stage was won by Gert Joeaar of the Estonia national team in a time of 4:31, some 12 seconds faster than McConvey, with Swede Fredrik Ludvigsson (People4you-Unaas) in second place one second down.
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In third place in the test was the familiar name of Stefan Schumacher (Christina Watches-Onfone); the 2008 double Tour de France stage winner who subsequently served a doping ban when his samples from that race were retested a year later and were positive for CERA.
McConvey’s ride in the time trial puts him 8th overall, some 15 seconds down on race leader and TT winner Joeaar.
The race is a UCI 2.1 ranked event, meaning it is one step up from the Rás and features a number of Pro Continental teams as well as some strong national selections, including squads from Estonia, Finland and Belarus.
The trade teams in the field include: Androni-Venezuela, CCC Polsat Polkowice, Rusvelo, Amore & Vita, Continental Astana, Christina Watches and Froy Bianchi.
The race continues tomorrow, Friday, with a 185km road stage and concludes with a road stage of 150km on Saturday.
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