A colourful and emotional 157.5km journey from the lush green mountains of Evrytania to the bustling central square of Larissa concluded, as expected, with a mass bunch sprint, where in-form Serbian rider Dušan Rajović of Solution Tech Nippo Rali emerged victorious.
Cycling fans in Larissa eagerly awaited another strong challenge from a Greek rider in Stage 2 of the ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas — just as they had witnessed the previous day in Agrinio — and they were rewarded by an outstanding performance from Greek national champion and Team United Shipping rider Nikiforos Arvanitou, who, like Georgios Bouglas the day before, crossed the finish line in second place.
For the second consecutive stage, Latvian rider Kristians Belohvoščiks of Bike Aid finished third, a result that moved him into the lead of the points classification.
In the general classification, Belgian rider Mathis Avondts (Azerion – Villa Valkenburg) successfully retained the leader’s jersey ahead of tomorrow’s demanding queen stage, which will take the peloton from Volos to Mount Pelion and then on to Lamia for the finish. The climbers are now expected to come to the fore.
Another strong performance came from Georgios Bouglas, who finished 11th for Burgos Burpellet-BH, while 19-year-old Georgios Kousis claimed 14th place, bringing further smiles to Greek cycling fans.
For Rajović, this marked his fifth victory of the season following successes at the Tours of Hainan, Taiwan and Sardinia, as well as the Belgrade–Banja Luka race. The Best Young Rider jersey remained in the possession of Ashmore Jack Clark of Atom 6 Bikes - Cycleur De Luxe - Auto Stroo Team, while the Mountains Classification jersey stayed with Loïc Bettendorff of Hrinkow Advarics.
“It was quite a nice day for us. In the end, it was a hard breakaway, and they had good timing at the front. I’m really thankful to my team, who did an amazing job catching them in the final kilometre. This victory is for them today, and I’m really happy to have won here, especially in this city. Winning in this city feels special because my dog was named Lara, inspired by Larissa. It’s really nice to win here today” said the stage winner.
Avondts, who retained the overall race lead, was satisfied with the outcome despite expecting a better finish in the sprint:
“We wanted to sprint, and I think my teammates did an amazing job to make it happen. In the end, it was really chaotic. In the last corner, I almost crashed and lost a few positions. I don’t think I executed my sprint very well, but I’m still in the leader’s jersey, so that’s okay. Tomorrow, the goal is simply to survive, and the same goes for the day after. Maybe there will be another opportunity in Athens, but we’ll see. There are still three days to go, so first I need to get through the next two stages”.
Second-placed rider Nikiforos Arvanitou said:
“My feelings are mixed. I have been struggling with a virus for the past week and I am not in my best condition. Second place is a good result, but if I had been fully fit, I believe I could have finished first. The race is excellent, the organisation is very good, and I am happy to see so many people in the towns waiting for us and supporting us along the route”.
Bettendorff also expressed his satisfaction after keeping hold of the Mountains jersey:
“I’m happy that I was able to defend the jersey. That was the goal today: to take as many points as possible. I almost sealed it, finishing second in the first sprint, but I’m quite happy with it. The team also did a great job by being in the breakaway all day, so we’re pleased with the result.”
Best Young Rider jersey holder Ashmore Jack Clark added after the finish:
“I’m obviously very satisfied. We came into the day with two goals: to get another rider in the breakaway and for me to keep the jersey. We achieved both, so I can’t complain. It was also nice to finally get on the podium, since yesterday I missed the ceremony. It was good to be up there and receive the reward. Tomorrow is going to be really tough. We already have two hard days in the legs, so the plan now is to recover, go again tomorrow, and try to hold on. We’ll see how it goes..”
How the race unfolded
The central square of Karpenisi was filled with children’s smiles on the morning of Thursday, 7 May, as local school pupils brought positive energy to the riders competing in this year’s ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas.
Just before 1pm, the peloton rolled out into the breathtaking scenery of mountainous Evrytania.
The first breakaway formed early, as the riders faced the day’s first major climbing challenge only 13 kilometres after the start: the Category 1 ascent of Tymfristos. Emiliano Vila of the Greek national team, George Radcliffe (Atom 6 Bikes - Cycleur De Luxe - Auto Stroo Team), Loïc Bettendorff (Hrinkow Advarics) and Veljko Stojnić (Team United Shipping) decided to go clear.
Stojnić took maximum points at the summit, while current King of the Mountains leader Bettendorff added another eight points to his tally. Vila crossed fourth and collected his first four KOM points.
Shortly afterwards, Mads Andersen (Swatt Club) launched a determined effort to bridge across to the leading quartet and succeeded around ten kilometres later.
At the famous Category 2 Tarzan climb, Bettendorff collected another six points, Stojnić took two, while Vila finished fourth to earn one additional point. Radcliffe claimed the remaining two points, leaving Andersen the only rider empty-handed.
Thirteen kilometres later came the final KOM sprint of the day — the gentler Category 3 climb at Aidonochori. Bettendorff sprinted across the line ahead of Stojnić and Radcliffe, earning 3, 2 and 1 points respectively. The result consolidated the Luxembourg rider’s lead in the mountains classification with 20 points, four ahead of Stojnić.
Soon afterwards, riders from Euskaltel-Euskadi attempted to close the gap to the breakaway, which was holding an advantage of around one minute over the peloton.
As the terrain turned downhill towards the picturesque Lake Smokovo and the pure climbers began to fade, a series of attacks created a new breakaway group featuring Lorenzo Ginestra (Swatt Club), Milan Kadlec (Kasper Crypto4ME), Josef Dirnbauer (Hrinkow Advarics), Michal Schuran (Team United Shipping), with Radcliffe the sole survivor from the original move.
At the first intermediate sprint in Kallifoni, the 6, 4 and 2 points were claimed by Dirnbauer, Schuran and Kadlec respectively.
The same five riders contested the second intermediate sprint in Karditsa — a city renowned for its love of cycling — in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd. Dirnbauer was again the fastest, taking another six points to move onto 12 overall, while Kadlec and Schuran swapped positions.
The intermediate sprints across the Thessalian plain helped the breakaway extend its lead to three minutes over the peloton, but with 30 kilometres remaining the gap had fallen to 1:16. By Eleftheres it had been reduced to just 32 seconds with fewer than ten kilometres to go.
Before entering Larissa, the peloton made visual contact with the leaders and, with 2.5 kilometres remaining, finally brought them back.
Everything was decided in the finishing straight, where Rajović launched a devastating final acceleration that none of his rivals could match.
