BUCHAREST, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Kazakhstan's Ilhan Dostiev secured victory in the 56th edition of the Tour of Romania, which concluded on Sunday.
Riding for the Astana Qazaqstan Development Team, Dostiev was followed by his Italian teammate Davide Toneatti, who trailed him by one minute, 11 seconds.
Slovakia's Lukas Kubis (Elkov - Kasper) and Romania's Cristian Raileanu both finished 1:29 behind Dostiev, with Kubis taking third place.
The fifth and final stage of the race, a circuit held in Bucharest, saw New Zealand's Lewis Bower (Groupama - FDJ) claim victory with a time of two hours, two minutes and 12 seconds over 98.4km.
France's Ronan Auge (Groupama - FDJ) finished second, while Kubis took third.
This marked Bower's second stage win in this edition, having also won the third stage in Brasov's Cristian on Friday.
Kubis was crowned the best sprinter, while Dostiev topped both the climbers' classification and the U23 young rider standings. Raileanu was the best Romanian rider overall, and the Astana Qazaqstan Development Team was named the best team.
Dostiev becomes the third Kazakh to win the Tour of Romania, after Serghei Tretiakov in 1999 and Vadim Kravchenko in 2000.
This year's edition featured 150 riders from 26 teams, including six Romanian teams, covering a total distance of 807km over five stages from August 14 to 18. ■
