HISTORY

During the years when the Olympic Gold medalist of 1976 and world champion Aavo Pikkuus had made cycling extremely popular, the idea of organizing a cycling race similar to Tartu Maraton was brought alive. The main bigwig was the famous cycling coach Rein Kirsipuu.

The first Tartu Rattaralli took place in May 1982 and started from the main square of Tartu. That year, there were 362 riders in the finish. Many serious fights and discussions were held to decide the right distances and level of difficulty. As there had not been any similar races in Estonia, at first the long and difficult distances frightened everyone. But when the riders finished the first race in Põlva, 46,7 km from Tartu, the organizers saw that the fear was meaningless: riders also rode their bikes back to Tartu.

The positive message from those riders encouraged about 1000 people to take part in the next race. Many different vehicles were used, and that is why ranking was classified: road bicycles, professionial bicycles, tandems and foldable bicycles. The course of Tartu Rattaralli has varied within years. Present 133 km from Tartu to Otepää and back through Elva has been the same for many years. Start and finish are in the same place – by the Aura Center in the city center of Tartu. Because of different road work in 2007, the race was held on an original course from Tartu to Põlva, and then following the old Võru road to Otepää and then back to Tartu. This course was very warmly accepted by the participants.

In 1984 – 1989 Tartu Rattaralli had ca 3000-4000 participants per year. Political changes decreased the numbers drastically. The new growth started in 1998 and 1999. Present Tartu Rattaralli races have altogether over 4000 participants on main event and over 3000 on childrens' event. The popularity is largely grown also thanks to the professional riders. For fanciers the race still remains as a competition with themselves, their friends or neighbours!

Tartu Rattaralli also has it’s position as the biggest cycling race in neighbouring countries. Accompanied by the UCI Europe Tour class 1.1 race it is the final event of the May’s cycling festival Estonian Cycling Weekend. 

• Tartu Rattaralli winners

  1982	Oleg Ljadov	EST	Erika Salumäe	EST
  1983	Mihkel Joosep	EST	Anda Kirilova	LAT
  1984	Riho Suun	EST	Tatjana Tshirkina	EST
  1985	Arvi Tammesalu	EST	Inguna Putninja	LAT
  1986	Toomas Kirsipuu	EST	Inguna Putninja	LAT
  1987	Vladimir Poltoratski	KAZ	Elita Gusaka	LAT
  1988	Uldis Ansons	LAT	Tatjana Volkova	RUS
  1989	Arnolds Urdis	LAT	Galina Naumova	RUS
  1990	Lauri Resik	EST	Lilja Beljajeva	RUS
  1991	Jaan Kirsipuu	EST	Tiina Pallas	EST
  1992	Janek Ermel	EST	Tiina Pallas	EST
  1993	Lauri Resik	EST	Siiri Plaan	EST
  1994	Marko Rebane	EST	Tiina Pallas	EST
  1995	Margus Salumets	EST	Riina Toomis	EST
  1996	Janek Ermel	EST	Tiina Pallas	EST
  1997	Lauri Resik	EST	Riina Toomis	EST
  1998	Alges Maasikmets	EST	Tiina Pallas	EST
  1999	Lauri Aus	EST	Riina Toomis	EST
  2000	Jaan Kirsipuu	EST	Riina Toomis	EST
  2001	Jacky Durand	FRA	Riina Toomis	EST
  2002	Janek Tombak	EST	Grete Pedmanson (Treier)	EST
  2003	Erki Pütsep	EST	Grete Treier	EST
  2004	Jaan Kirsipuu	EST	Grete Treier	EST
  2005	Andrus Aug	EST	Evelin Ansip	EST
  2006	Alexandr Khatuntsev	RUS	Laura Lepasalu	EST
  2007	Lukasz Podolski	POL	Grete Treier	EST
  2008	Aidis Kruopis	LTU	Liisa Ehrberg	EST
  2009	Janek Tombak	EST	Maaris Meier	EST
  2010	Vytautas Kaupas	LTU	Grete Treier	EST
  2011	Jimmy Rönn	SWE	Liisi Rist	EST
  2012	Rene Joergensen	DEN	Grete Treier	EST
  2013	Gert Jõeäär	EST	Grete Treier	EST
  2014	Samuel Pökälä	FIN	Liisa Ehrberg	EST
  2015	Andrii Kulyk	UKR	Liisa Ehrberg	EST
  2016	Matti Manninen	FIN	Liisa Ehrberg	EST
  2017	Jonas Ahlstrand	SWE	Liisi Rist	EST
  2018	Karl-Patrick Lauk	EST	Kelly Kalm	EST
  2019	Gleb Karpenko	EST	Kelly Kalm	EST
  2022	Romet Pajur	EST	Malin Eriksen	NOR
  2023	Norman Vahtra	EST	Matilda Frantzich	SWE
  2024	Mihkel Räim	EST	Elisabeth Ebras	EST