Main photo: Bogdan Zabelinsky of “Agios Mnason” cycling club, fastest on Stavrovouni
The cycling racing action for 2021 took off this weekend with two hill climb time trials in Stavrovouni and Fikardou!
Stavrovouni Hill Climb
The “ABC Kids Cup 2021” was the first road cycling race for the 2021 season. It was held in Stavrovouni on Saturday, April 17th on the classic 4,7 km route which zig-zags up the pointy mountain! The race was organized by ABC Agrotis Bicycle Center which is owned by the 80’s and 90’s cycling champion Andreas Agrotis. It was the first stop for the 2021 Cyprus National road cycling cup and it involved only U17 and U15 categories.
The fastest rider of the day was Bogdan Zabelinsky of “Agios Mnason” cycling club, who with a time of 13 minutes and 55 seconds won the Cadet boys U17 category. Zabelinsky is the son of Rio 2016 silver medalist and London 2012 bronze medalist Olga Zabelinskaya who chose Limassol, Cyprus as her permanent residence and training ground!
Chrisovalanto Solonos of Kornos Cyclists Association won the Cadet Girls U17 category with a time of 20:26, which was the fastest among the girls.
The rest of the winners:
- Cadet Boys U15: Neophytos Timotheou - Lefkosia Cycling Club - 18:01
- Cadet Girls U15: Alexandra Safeiri - “Triantafilia” Cycling Club of Stavrovouni - 23:50
- Boys open category: Christos Monochristou - Lefkosia Cycling Club - 23:50
- Girls open category: Georgia Papageorgiou - AEK Idaliou - 24:41
Photo: the podium for Men Elite in Fikardou - Andreas Miltiades, Alexandros Matsangos (both Elite Cycling) and Konstantinos Pavlides (Omonoia)
Fikardou Hill Climb
On Sunday, April 18th, the cycling department of Omonoia club took over the role of the organizer! Under the supervision the well known cycling champion of past times, Polys Poumbouris, they organized the Fikardou Hill Climb. Which was the second race of the 2021 Cyprus National road cycling cup.
More than 100 riders left the starting ramp in Klirou village and raced to the main square of Fikardou, a village which was included in its entirety in the list of Unesco World Heritage sites! The riders covered a distance of 9 km with 300m of altitude gain.
Fastest for the day was the usual suspect Andreas Miltiades, who last week had a brilliant performance in the International Tour of Rhodes, bringing home the green King of the Mountains jersey. It took Miltiades 20 minutes and 19 seconds to finish in Fikardou. Miltiades is part of the Elite Cycling club and races internationally with DMT Racing Team by Marconi project in mountain biking races and Gios - Kiwi Atlantico in road racing.
The two other steps of the Men Elite podium were filled by Alexandros Matsangos of Elite Cycling (22:05) and Konstantinos Pavlides of Omonoia (22:55)
The fastest female rider was Eleni Koukouma of Omonoia, the team which organised the race. Koukouma won the Junior Women race in 27 minutes and 51 seconds.
Worth mentioning is also the finish time of 23 minutes of sixteen-year-old Christodoulos Achas of Nicosia Cycling Club. Besides winning the Cadet Boys U17 category, he achieved the 4th fastest time of the day, just 5 seconds off the Men Elite podium!
The fastest among the Masters riders was Michalis Theocharous of Famagusta Cycling with the very good time of 23:34.
Rest of the categories winners:
- Junior Men: Constantinos Ioannou - AEL - 23:41
- Cadet Girls U17: Chrysovalanto Solonos - Kornos Cyclists Association - 33:03
- Cadet Boys U15: Neofytos Timotheou - Nicosia Cycling Club - 28:59
- Cadet Girls U15: Alexandra Safeiri - “Triantafilia” Cycling Club of Stavrovouni - 31:31
- Masters 1 Men: Iain Evans - APOEL - 24:14
- Masters 3 Men: Polyvios Gregoriades - APOEL - 24:53
- Men open: Andreas Anastasiou - FAMAGUSTA CYCLING - 27:50
- Masters 1 Men open: Fokas Germanos - FAMAGUSTA CYCLING - 24:29
- Masters 2 Men open: Slepov Llya - 24:01
- Masters 3 Men open: Ladjias Panayiotis - Bank of Cyprus - 29:13
International Action in Lythrodontas
Next weekend the Cypriot riders will switch their road bikes for their mountain bikes for the international "Lythrodontas MTB race by Agios Mnason", a C3 event in the UCI international calendar. The race will be held inside the beautiful Lythrodontas pine forest. It will be organised by Agios Mnason Cycling Club in cooperation with the community of Lythrodontas and under the watchful eyes of the ETEA rescue team!
