Tomas Vaitkus (Orica-GreenEdge) earned his third Lithuanian national road title from a five-rider breakaway that formed during the last hour of racing.

It was a hard-fought race, where an early breakaway of two riders established more an advantage of more than 10 minutes before the field began to chase. With the gap falling, riders in the bunch began to attack. Eventually, Tomas Vaitkus, Evaldas Siskevicius (Sojasun), Egidijus Juodvalkis (Crelan-Euphony), Gediminas Kaupas (Differdange-Losch) and Ignatas Konovalovas (MTN-Qhubeka) slipped free.

On the last lap, Konovalovas put in a strong attack and Vaitkus hard to dig deep to get back to him: “It wasn’t so easy today even when we got away from the peloton,” the 31-year old explained. “Ignatas Konovalovas attacked on the last lap. He was really strong today. Maybe he was the strongest opponent for me. I really needed to work hard not to let him go to the line alone.”

Vaitkus’ efforts brought him and Siskevicius back up to the MTN-Qhubeka rider, and the race was decided by a sprint. Vaitkus was the best sprinter of the three, so it was no surprise he won the title ahead of Konovalovas and Siskevicius.

Plagued by injuries throughout the last two seasons, Vaitkus' wins confirms his condition is on the upswing: “It’s a good feeling to win the race and wear the national jersey,” said Vaitkus. “It’s always special. I feel better and more confident with my condition. I think this is a good time for me to have this performance and show improvements.”

“I’m happy to come back into our national colours,” said Vaitkus, who last wore the national champion jersey in 2008. “I feel proud when I can race in them.”

Result:

1. Tomas Vaitkus (Orica-GreenEdge) 4:08:25

2. Ignatas Konovalovas (MTN-Qhubeka)

3. Evaldas Siskevicius (Sojasun) +0:04

4. Egidijus Juodvalkis (Crelan-Euphony) +0:55

5. Gediminas Kaupas (Differdange-Losch) +1:47

6. Ramunas Navardauskas (Garmin-Sharp) +3:17

7. Paulius Siskevicius (AVC Aix-en-Provence)

8. Linas Rumsas (New Project Team)

9. Vytautas Kaupas (Differdange-Losch)

10. Darijus Dzervus (Doltcini-Flanders) +3:18