Having been forced to step down to continental level, Aidis Kruopis (Sean Kelly) showed that he is ready to return to a top team when he won his first Lithuanian road race title by beating the country’s WorldTour riders. He emerged as the fastest in the sprint finish where he beat Ramunas Navardauskas (Cannondale) and Egidijus Juodvalkis (Colba) into the minor podium positions.

After the 2014 season, Aidis Kruopis saw his professional career come to an end when the Orica-GreenEDGE team decided not to extend this contract. Having signed with the An Post team, the Lithuanian is aiming at a return to the top level.

Today he made sure that he will be more visible in the top races when he won his first Lithuanian road race title. When a small group arrived at the finish, he was always the man to beat and he lived up to expectations when he beat time trial champion Ramunas Navardauskas and Egidijus Juodvalkis into the minor podium positions.

The win was the second for Kruopis in 2015 after he won a stage of the An Post Ras in May and comes on the back of a consistent string of top 10 results. It made up for his near-miss in 2012 when he finished second in his national road race.

Kruopis will get the chance to show his jersey in many big Belgian races where the An Post team is a regular participant.