A hill climb on Friday, a cross-country race on Saturday and a marathon are on the menu of the internationally renowned stage race in Greece. The Russian Timofey Ivanov delivered the most consistent performance over the three days and took the overall victory of the stage race with fourth place in the prologue, a victory and a third place. With Sebastien Carabin from Belgium and Stephane Tempier from France, he was beaten by two top-class riders.

The only Swiss rider in the starting field is Manuel Fasnacht. Thanks to a strong performance in the final marathon, the man from Solothurn finished in twelfth place - a nice confirmation of his form.

Successful start to the season
"We see these races as our first start to the new season," says Kathrin Stirnemann, adding with satisfaction: "In addition to the very positive training effect, I now also know that the preparation has worked and that I'm on the right track." Third place in the prologue and second place in the marathon stage were decisive for the good final result. In the latter, Stirnemann was just 13 seconds behind the winner Ekaterina Anoshina. With her strong final performance, the Russian snatched overall victory from the German Elisabeth Brandau. Brandau had previously won the prologue and the first stage.Corina Gantenbein can also look back on a successful start to the season. With three fifth places, the second Swiss member of the Austrian racing team "Haibike Ötztal ProTeam" is doing excellently and is also in fifth place in the overall standings.

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