The second to last UCI Gran Fondo World Championship qualifier for the 2022 season, UCI Lakeland, took place in Lahti, just outside of Helsinki, Finland this past weekend with Finnish elite rider Riku Overmark (Jurvan Voima) leaving no-doubt he was the top cyclist, winning both the gran fondo and time trial.

Overmark, 33, is having a stellar season, not only winning Lakeland, but also finishing second in both the Elite road race and time trial at the 2022 Finnish National Championships in June.

In pouring rain on Saturday, Overmark rode everyone off his wheel and soloed to victory on the almost dead-flat 145 kilometer gran fondo course, finishing in 3:12:16. Lauri Pitkanen (3:13:20) finished a strong second with German sprinter Alexander Steffens (3:14:29) taking the field sprint for third place.

Belgian Barbara Van Lathem (Bataia Brigade) won the female gran fondo competition in 3:19:34, followed by Ursula Linden (3:24:01) and Suvi Pitkanen (3:53:02).

The day before, Overmark clocked a winning time of 36:47 on the 29 kilometer time trial course with a blazing fast average speed of 47.2km/h. Triathlete Tero Setola (38:49) was in second place and 50+ year-old Timo Torpo (39:06) brought home the bronze medal ahead of many younger riders.

British reigning UCI Gran Fondo TT World Champion Jessica Rhodes-Jones, proudly wearing her rainbow striped jersey, won the female time trial race in 43:25 with an average speed of 40km/h. Ursula Linden (46:02), who finished second in the gran fondo, once again took second place. Karolina Rheinhold was third in 47:07.

The 100 kilometer medio fondo worlds qualifier for males age 60+ and females 50+ was won by Janne Hamalainen for the males and Pavi Harkonen for the females.

Full UCI Lakeland Gran Fondo results HERE.

Full UCI Lakeland Gran Fondo TT results HERE.

Photos: UCI Lakeland