GP OF SOCHI – SOCHI (RUSSIA)
2015, March 22nd.
RusVelo rider Alexander Foliforov won the first stage race in his career as a pro taking the general clasification of the GP of Sochi. Rated by many experts as a naturally born climber, he left his mark on a couple of races in the mountains of Europe last year, including podium places at Ronde de l’Isard and Le Tour de l’Avenir. In the popular Caucasian tour, born a couple of decades ago as an acid test for the Soviet national team candidates, Alexander focused on the event he could predictably shine at, an uphill time trial, contested on the final day. He won a 10-km long ascent with 600 meters of vertical drop by a considerable margin of a minute over the eventual second placer Ivan Savitskiy (Moscow), and rocketed up eight positions in the standings; Igor Frolov (Itera-Katusha) set the third best time of the day. The stage podium repeated itself a couple of minutes later in the GC prize giving ceremony.
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