"Oh, wow," exclaimed Jolanda Neff in amazement as she looked at the results list. Only 1.8 seconds separate her and Annika Langvad after the time trial. "I felt good, but in the first race you never know what it's worth," she says with a laugh and is delighted with her first victory in the new Stöckli team outfit. She had decided very late to start in Cyprus. "I postponed my preparation by a month because the World Cup doesn't start until May. But my form came faster than expected. That's why I just felt like riding," she explains.

Annika Langvad explains that she has not yet completed any intensive training in preparation for the Cape Epic stage race in South Africa. "I've been working on my base, but I know that I can also be fast if I only do base training. But of course, it's always difficult at the start of the season because you have no comparison," explains the marathon world champion. "If I had known how close it was, I could have taken a few more seconds out of it," she says with a laugh.

Annie Last in third place is a bit of a surprise. She loses just under 55 seconds to Neff, but it was a strong start to the season for the Brit. Eight seconds behind her, Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa leads a group of riders who are very close to each other.
Dahle-Flesjaa is passed by Langvad, who started one minute later, and is accordingly cautious when commenting on her race. "I'm not a fast starter," she said, but pointed out that it was a "historic moment" for her, so to speak. "It's the first time in my career that I've competed in a race on a full-suspension bike," says the nine-time world champion.

Kathrin Stirnemann finished the time trial in a good sixth place. Linda Indergand, Nathalie Schneitter and Corina Gantenbein follow each other relatively closely in 11th to 13th place.

From the bike to the jersey to the contents - pure Swissness. ©Armin Küstenbrück / Ego Promotions

Florian Vogel wins, but does not meet the team manager's requirements
With an impressive race, Florian Vogel lands his first stage win in Cyprus. The former European champion achieved the same feat as his compatriot Jolanda Neff: in his first race after switching teams from Scott-Odlo to Focus XC, he finished at the top of the podium for his new team

As he crosses the finish line, he is still a little critical. "I tried to pick up the pace, but in my opinion, I was too fast at the start," explains Vogel. "And I couldn't fulfill my team manager's instructions to catch up with the rider who started in front of me." Matthias Beck, who is meant by this, laughs and so does Vogel.

In the end, Vogel wins twelve seconds ahead of Stephane Tempier. The Frenchman from the BH-Sr-Suntour-KMC team seems to be in good form. "Yes, it was good, especially for the fact that it's the first intensive session. I gave it my all and then got into a bit of trouble on the downhill," explained Tempier. Fabian Giger also made a brisk debut for his new team with sixth place.

In flight to stage victory - Florian Vogel on his new Focus. ©Armin Küstenbrück / Ego Promotions

Grant Ferguson from Team Betch.nl-Superior-Brentjens in third position is a bit of a surprise - on the one hand. On the other hand, not. The Brit is not yet one of the absolute world-class riders, but he is known as a very good sprinter. He can cross the finish line in a time that is 21.57 seconds slower than Vogel and is therefore only a tiny 0.28 seconds faster than the Brazilian Henrique Avancini and 0.35 seconds faster than the Frenchman Maxime Marotte.

Olympic champion in the Masters category
Another Olympic winner, the first in the history of mountain biking, is hiding in the Masters category. Dutchman Bart Brentjens, who now acts as team manager of his own Betch.nl-Superior-Brentjens-MTB-Team, decided to enter the race at short notice and registered for the Masters category. The 44-year-old gold medal winner in Atlanta in 1996 and bronze medal winner in Athens in 2004 delivers a time of 17:25 minutes and wins the Masters category with ease.
Afterwards, he gives a few tips to the riders from his team and gets ready to take over the technical zone as team manager.

Junior World Champion Simon Andreassen from Denmark manages to win the junior category despite suffering from a cold for a few days. "I couldn't be as fast as I wanted to be, but it's okay under the conditions," says Andreassen. By the way: with his time of 14:39 minutes, he would have finished eleventh in the men's race.

On the way to becoming a great - Simon Andreassen at the start. ©Armin Küstenbrück / Ego Promotions

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