Ciolek and Konovalovas take second in their national road race championships. Photo: www.teammtnqhubeka.com
MTN-Qhubeka riders Gerald Ciolek and Ignatas Konovalovas finished second in their respective national road championships this weekend.
Team captain Ciolek narrowly missed out on his second German national title, while Konovalovas took the overall runner-up spot in Lithuania, after winning the time-trial on Friday.
Ciolek finished the 225km road race in the pouring rain behind Lotto-Belisol’s Andre Griepel, with John Degenkolb of Argos-Shimano in third.
“Andre was very strong today. I didn’t have any chance against him in the sprint,” said the Milan-Sanremo winner, who won the title in 2006.
“That was hard work, so I am satisfied with the results.”
Team principal Douglas Ryder said it was fantastic to see Ciolek perform so well in his own national championships.
“Gerald has been such an inspiration to all our riders, he is easy going and has such a positive attitude and he leads by example. He is definitely having one of his best seasons and I am sure there are many more wins coming his way this year.”
Ryder said Konovalovas had also found great form again after his injury in the early part of the season.
“This has been a big goal for Ignatas this year and to see him win back his national time-trial title is incredible.”
The Lithuanian held the title from 2008 to 2010. He was runner-up last year.
In Sunday’s road race, the 27-year-old finished second behind winner Tomas Vaitkus (Orica-GreenEdge).
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