A taste of Tour de France and Giro D’ Italia brilliance at the ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas – For the first time two World Tour teams are set to appear in Greece’s flagship cycling competition
The ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas, Greece's most prestigious international sporting event, is due to kick off on April 1st in Patras, with the team presentation at the port of Patras. Eighteen professional and the national teams of Greece and Cyprus are expected to feature in the Tour’s fourth edition since its return to the international circuit.
Spectators and TV audiences will have the opportunity to see some of the biggest names in world road cycling competing in Greece for the first time!
It is worth noting that this year's Tour will feature two World Tour teams, Jayco AlUla and XDS Astana. Amongst the top athletes competing with these two teams are Jayco AlUla’s Dutch champion Dylan Groenewegen, with a total of 74 victories, six of them in the Tour de France.
Also present will be the Italian Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana), who boasts eight Giro d’Italia victories and a 20-year cycling career. XDS Astana has its coaching staff Greek legend Vassilis Anastopoulos, who, along with Kanellos Kanellopoulos, are the hosts’ sole Tour of Hellas champions in 2003 and 1981 respectively. It is mainly thanks to Anastopoulos XDS Astana featuring amongst the Tour’s team line-up, a presence that adds value and glamour to the race.
On April 2, the 120-rider peloton will begin its Greek adventure from the University of Patras and will go all the way to the city of Agrinio. Four more exciting stages will follow the following days that will see the riders go through Western and Central Greece as well as Attica.
Like in every year since 2021, the Tour classified as a 2.1 race in the UCI calendar, consists of five spectacular stages which are:
Stage 1
Patra to Agrinio
Distance: 144.44 km
Elevation gain: 1,239 m
Stage 2
Agrinio to Arachova
Distance: 176.55 km
Elevation gain: 3,063 m
Stage 3
Delphi to Chalkis
Distance: 151.78 km
Elevation gain: 1,619 m
Stage 4
Chalkis to Olympic Village (Municipality of Acharnai)
Distance: 186 km
Elevation gain: 3.764 m
Stage 5
Nea Makri (Municipality of Marathon) – Syntagma Square
Distance: 156.57 km
Elevation gain: 1,521 m
Tour’s total distance is 811.19 km
Speaking ahead of the ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas kick-off day, Vasilis Diamantopoulos, president of the Hellenic Cycling Federation, stated:
“We are grateful for the support provided by the Alternate Minister of Sports, Yiannis Vroutsis to this great sporting event that promotes cycling and Greece worldwide. The strong bond that unites our Federation with the Cycling Greece, the Tour’s Organising Committee is a guarantee for the success of this very demanding event”.
Greece’s National Team sets the bar high for this year’s Tour of Hellas.
The team has already competed at the Tour of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, where its young members enjoyed an excellent race competing next to some of the world cycling’s most notable riders.
The last preparation race for them, before the ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas, is the International Cycling Events & the International Tour of Rhodes, currently occurring in the Dodecanese’s biggest island.
The eight riders from whom Greece’s national coach Nikos Koubenakis will soon make his selection are: 2024 Olympian Giorgos Bouglas of Spanish outfit Burgos BH, former Mountain Bike world champion Periklis Ilias, 2024 Greek champion Nikiforos Arvanitou, as well as Nikolaos Drakos, Miltiadis Giannoutsos, ASPTT
Nancy’s Emiliano Villa, youngster Nikolaos Manthos, and experienced rider Polychronis Tzortzakis.
