For the second time, Velingrad hosted the L’Etape Bulgaria gran fondo, with more than 800 cyclists from 16 countries participating in the amateur Tour de France style race on 57 kilometer medio fondo and 102 kilometer gran fondo routes.

In the men’s gran fondo, 2020 Bulgarian National Road Champion Teodor Rusev, soloed to victory and took the champion’s yellow jersey by finishing first with a two-and-a-half minute lead. The 33 year-old former pro finished in 2:55:16, followed by Emil Stoynev (2:57:42) and Borislav Dobrev (2:57:49).

In the women’s gran fondo, Petra Minkova (TRI TEAM VARNA) won in 3:25:19, Elena Dobranitsia (3:45:57) came in second, and Iveta Kostadinova (3:49:11) finished third.

Medio fondo champion for the men was 36 year-old Nikolay Mihailov (1:43:33), with the fastest woman 19 year-old Ioana Valkanova (1:47:09), who claimed her second L’Etape Bulgaria title after winning last year.

Complete L’Etape Bulgaria results HERE

Photo Credit: Facebook/gong.bg

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