April 11, 2010 (Rovaniemi, Finland) – Finland’s Sami Jauhojärvi won the men’s race at the inaugural Tour de Barents which wrapped up in Roviniemi with the final climb of the competition on Sunday. Jean Marc Gaillard of France finished second with a time gap of 31.9 sec. He beat Martin Bajcicak of Slovakia in third by only 0.01 sec. The Czech Republic’s Lukas Bauer, one of the big favourites for overall victory, eventually finished fourth overall.

In the women’s competition Riitta-Liisa Roponen (Finland) defended her lead against Kristin Stoermer Steira who claimed second at 1:10.0 behind the winner. The Czech Republic’s Kamila Rajdlova claimed third place overall with a time gap of 3:03.9.

Interview with Winner Sami Jauhojärvi

Contributed by Aki Tuovinen

How do you feel Sami after your victory?

Sami Jauhojärvi: We have had great weather today. I am very happy that I have won the first edition of the Tour de Barents.

Did you believe from the beginning you could win?

SJ: I have to say that I had a good day with great result at the opening stage in Vadsö and I believe that performance helped me a lot. Today I just needed to concentrate on my own performance. There was a tough fight for the second place between Jean-Marc Gaillard and Martin Bajcicak who was actually the fastest today. On the finishing lane Gaillard was a bit faster than Bajcicak.

Why have you so active in promoting and marketing the Tour de Barents?

SJ: It was great to have these top skiers here, even though Olympic season has been long and hard. Our batteries are all low but it was great experience to race in Lappland. I am very confident that Tour de Barents will develop in the future. These races in Lappland were great and all the skiers are happy, so I am sure that this positive message spreads among the skiers bringing more athletes to this Tour next year.”

Men’s results here.
Women’s results here.