Estonian makes his mark in the world of cycling

RIGA - Young Estonian rider Rein Taaramae produced one of the finest results in his cycling career, finishing the eight day Paris-to-Nice race in fourth overall, and first in the youth standings. At just 23 years of age, the strong result in what is considered to be one of road cycling’s premier European races, has confirmed the Estonian as one of the riders to watch in le Tour de France, which begins on July 2.

In its 69th edition the Paris-to-Nice in 2011 was made up of eight stages covering a total distance of 1,307 km. Of the 176 riders who began the race, only 89 crossed the finish line in Nice.
Riding for French team Cofidis le credit en ligne, Taaramae completed the race in 34 hours 4 minutes 47 seconds, just 1 minute 10 seconds behind eventual winner Tony Martin of Germany and 19 seconds off a podium finish, with Brit Bradley Wiggins claiming third spot. Andreas Kloden, also of Germany, finished in second place.

Taaramae took it easy over the opening days, finishing in the main peleton in the first four stages, to leave him in a good position going into the hills, where he traditionally competes strongly.
This shone through on stage five, a 193km ride through the mountains from Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise to Vernoux-en-Vivarais. As the riders began to traverse the final climb of the day, Taaramae positioned himself well in a small break-away group before going at it himself to reach the final peak in first position. Having reached the peak first, the Estonian was then happy to drop back into a group consisting of seven other riders who would then compete for stage honors in a sprint finish, 19 seconds ahead of the main chase group.

With his overall standing improved to eighth, the real test began for Taaramae, with the following day providing a 27km time trial, a discipline not traditionally recognized as being Taaramae’s strong suit. Despite this, the Estonian rode admirably, completing the 27km in 34:34, which was good enough to see him finish eighth in the stage and improve his overall standing to fourth. Talking to French cycling Web site velochrono, Taaramae admitted that he was fearful of the time trial. “Before the race, I was a little nervous, I hoped that I could finish in the top six but I was afraid of the time trial,” before adding, “usually, I finish between 20th and 30th in the time trials, but there I got eighth!”

The race was still far from over, with the remaining two stages still putting forward plenty of obstacles with the field splitting up on both days. Taaramae rode smartly, assuring that he finished in one of the main breakaway groups on both days to maintain his fourth spot and the white jersey awarded to the leading youth rider.
Talking to cyclingnews.com, Taaramae attributed the fine effort to a variety of factors, including a changed diet during the off-season and a developing maturity.

Taaramae is now aiming high, believing that a top ten finish in the world’s toughest race, le Tour is not out of his reach, with his Cofidis team preparing a lighter schedule for the Estonian in preparation for the race. Last year Taaramae was forced to pull out of le Tour on stage 13 when exhaustion set in.

“I’m not doing the Vuelta a Catalunya this year. On the other races, it doesn’t matter if I don’t get great results. I want to get to July less tired, more relaxed. Last year, I performed well in Paris-Nice and in Catalunya and I got to the Tour stressed out. I was under a lot of strain, the team had made me race too much and I couldn’t recover,” Tarramae told cyclingnews.com.

Lithuanian Tomas Vaitkus also competed in the Paris-Nice, riding for Pro Team Astana. Vaitkus finished in 66th position, 42:44 behind the winner Martin.