Back to racing tomorrow for our national road cycling team at the International Tour of Rhodes - Satisfied with their result in the International Rhodes GP on Sunday
After a 5,5-month break from racing, the category 1.2 International Rhodes GP proved very challenging for the Cyprus national road cycling team.
While Andreas Miltiades proved once again his high level, finishing in the first group, just 14 seconds behind the winner, a crash and technical issues caused trouble to most of our riders. Despite a flat tire, Alexandros Agrotis managed to finish in the second group at 2 minutes from the winner. Konstantinos Pavlides proved that he is rightfully regarded as one of the strongest of the new generation of Cypriot road cyclists. In his first competition in the elite category, he survived the race, fighting in the second group and finished together with Agrotis.
How things evolved
The 184km long race, which was contested by 157 riders from 24 different countries, was won by the Norwegian Tord Gudmestad of Team COOP in a time of 4h 23m. It started at 12 pm outside the main Rhodes city square and covered the whole coastal area, doing a complete loop of the island. It featured 1685m of climbing, on a rolling course with the exception of a 10km long climb at the 40th km and a 7km one at the 145th km, the latter of which proved to be the decisive point for the race.
The high-caliper peloton showed its intentions from the word go, with attacks coming as soon as the riders were out of the city. The strong sidewinds touching 8 Beaufort, were an added challenge for the young and inexperienced riders of our national team.
At the foot of the first climb of the day, the Italian Bardiani team upped the pace and made everyone suffer. The sidewinds together with the nervousness of the peloton caused, at that moment, a crash that brought down Konstantinos Thimides. He hit the road hard, smashing his helmet, but thankfully without any other consequences. The same crash blocked momentarily Stavros Theophanous. Thimides got back on his bike immediately and the two of them tried to chase the peloton but never managed to reach it. A missed feeding for Philokyprou left him without water and food halfway through the race which caused cramps. Eventually, he was caught by the other two and they all rode to the finish but ultimately were over the time limit and were not classified.
The rest of the riders stayed in the group which managed to bring back the early day breakaways. A few attacks broke out the peloton, forming two main groups.
While Miltiades managed to get in the first group, a flat tire for Agrotis a bit earlier caught him out, despite the quick wheel change. The second group, which also included Matsangos and Pavlides, chased hard and at the top of the second climb they were only 20 seconds off the back of the group in front, but never managed to close the gap. Agrotis and Pavlides finished in the second group, in 35th and 54th positions respectively, 2 minutes off the winning time.
A broken spoke for Matsangos while he tried to avoid a crash in front of him, left him with a bent wheel and destroyed his chances. He continued and eventually finished 91st, 10 minutes behind the winner.
Miltiades managed to stay with the front group until the end. During the final km he was a marked man and team tactics forced him to ride outside the echelons that were formed by the strong side winds. This, together with the long day on the saddle exhausted him and prevented him from getting in the finish sprint. He placed 21st just 14 seconds behind the winner.
International Tour of Rhodes
The action in Rhodes recommences tomorrow, with the prologue of the 4-day International Tour of Rhodes. The 1,9km long and completely flat course, on the Zefyros beach, will be a quick sprint to the line and will serve to distribute the jerseys for the main action the following days.
Stage 1 on Friday will be held on the northern part of the island on a 138,5km hilly course. For the first 45 km, the peloton will be on a flat section along the coast, only being interrupted by a sprint for the Points Classification on the 25th km to stir things up! The menu of the day also includes two categorized climbs which will count for the King of the Mountain classification and another points sprint.
Saturday’s stage will be the queen stage and will be held mostly on the North-Eastern part of Rhodes. At 150km long, it includes 2500m of climbing with 3 major climbs, two of which count for the King of the Mountain classification and another 5 smaller ones. It also includes 3 sprints for the Points Classification.
The final stage of the Rhodes Tour, takes the riders deep in the heart of the island, crossing the mountains from the south coast to the north coast and back to the south to finish once again on the coast, right outside the village of Afantou. At 153,5 km it will be the longest stage of the tour and will include 2 KOM categorized climbs and two points classification sprints.
The prologue tomorrow starts at 4 in the afternoon. 167 riders will take the start with the last one riding off the starting ramp at 17:23.
The Cypriot riders start times are:
- 16:03:00 - Andreas Miltiadis
- 16:13:00 - Alexandros Agrotis
- 16:25:30 - Alexandros Matsangps
- 16:38:00 - Konstantinos Pavlides
- 16:50:30 - Christos Philokyprou
- 17:03:00 - Stavros Theophanous
- 17:15:30 - Konstantinos Thimides
At 450km long and with 6300m of climbing, the International Tour of Rhodes will stretch our riders to their limits. Miltiadis and Agrotis are expected to try and battle for the top places in the stages and the overall. The other members of the team will try to finish as high as possible while supporting the two riders and ultimately try to survive the 4-day Greek challenge!
International Tour of Rhodes 2021 Start list
