The 2nd International Tour of Geroskipou was held with big success in Pafos, Cyprus with more participations and very successful organization.
The race was held on the 6th and 7th of February with the participation of 65 riders from 9 different countries. The race was organized by Bikin'Cyprus Events Management with the support of the Cyprus Cycling Federation and the Geroskipou Municipality The main sponsor was the Cyprus Tourism Organization.
For the first stage of the race, took the Men Elite and Junior Men riders for a beautiful trip in the Pafos and Limassol region. The riders left the Gerorskipou square and headed towards Episkopi passing on their way from the Petra tou Romiou scenic road and the historical monuments like the ancient Curium Theater and the temple of Apollon. The race then headed towards the mountains passing from the picturesque villages of Anogyra, Plataniskia and Alectora before finishing back in Geroskipou. The starting flag was dropped by the mayor of Geroskipou Mr. Tasos Kouzoupos, who expresse his satisfaction for the evolution of the race in only its second year of existence: “Our municipality promotes sport and will continue to support the efforts for sports growth like this cycling race. We wish to see this race develop into another big sports event that our municipality organizes."
On the racing part of the first day, the Russian athletes Pimenov and Polianski attacked very early and together with Raptis (Thiseas) from Greece managed to escape from the main group. They gradually increased their distance to a maximum of four minutes at Avdimou village, just before the main climb. On the steepest part of the climb just before Anogira village, the bunch reacted and started chasing back the breakaway, managing to diminish the distance. As a result by the time the riders reached Petra tou Romiou, the two leading groups became compact once again. From there on, the teams unfolded their battle plans for the finishing sprint. The Kazakhstan Juniors National team proved to have the best train and finishing tactics managing to get Alaxey Lutsenko on the front just in time to display his finishing talent and win the sprint. The Elite men race was won by the Greek rider Gkazonis of Thiseas.
The second stage was a circuit race which was held on a flat course next to the beachside hotels of the Geroskipou Touristic area and the Municipal Sporting Complex. The type of the race with sprint bonuses every five laps and the small time differences of the first stage, challenged the teams to develop smart strategies to win the race. From the first sprint, the Cypriot athlete of team Omonoia, Marios Athanasiades showed his intentions by winning the 5 seconds bonus, neutralizing from the go his deficit from Gazonis on the General Classification. After a couple more sprints, Raptis from Greece together with Lutsenko and Ayazbayev from Kazakhstan took advantage of smart team tactics to break away from the bunch. They managed to stay away for the rest of the race and win the second stage together with the General Classification. Petros Raptis and Alexey Lutsenko won the stage for Men Elite Junior Men respectively.
In the Men elite Petros Gkazonis (Thiseas) from Greece took second and Cypriot Timotheos Skettos (Limassol Sporting Club) took third. In Junior Men second place was won by Ayazbayev and third by Ivan Tsisaroik Ivan both racing with the clours of Kazakhstan.
In Women Elite first place was won by Athena Hadjistilli (Thiseas). Yelena Petrova (Omonoia) from Latvia finished in second place and Marina Theodorou (Irakleitos) from Cyprus finished in third. In Junior Women the winner was Antria Christoforou (Omonoia) from Cyprus.
In Masters 1 winner was Michales Clerides (Irakleitos-Cyprus) and in Masters 2 Mike Koumi (Omonoia-Cyprus). In Cadets boys the winner was Christos Loizou (Omonoia-Cyprus), in second place Kyriakos Papacharalambous (Omonoia-Cyprus) and in third Charalambous Giannis (Podilatikos Omilos Lefkosias-Cyprus). The Cadet girls category was won by Antigoni Katsikidou (Apollon-Cyprus). In Hobby Men the winner was Kuckovski Severyn, and in Hobby Masters Agisilaos Agisilaou.
The sponsors of the race were the Cyprus Tourism Organization, Geroskipou Municipality, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Cyprus Electricity Authority, Atlantic Insurance, Garmin, Skoda, Active O2, Corny, Zorpas, Cyprus Sports Channel, Russian Wave, Kanali 6, Energy 107,6, Politis, ITN, Hercules awards. Official Race Carrier were Cyprus Airways.
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