Florian Vogel is just four seconds short of winning the 5.7-kilometer prologue. The 2008 European champion explained that he had been looking forward to this race, which Vogel is primarily using to build up his form. Jan Skarnitzl finishes in first place. The Czech was surprised by his victory. In the prologue, he had to get on someone else's mountain bike because his own racing bike did not arrive in Cyprus in time. Skarnitzl's compatriot Ondrej Cink came third.

Fabian Giger narrowly missed out on the podium. Nevertheless, the Swiss racer can be pleased with fourth place and a successful start to the season. With Thomas Litscher in seventh place and Nicola Rohrbach in tenth place, two more Swiss athletes reach the top 10.

Women's victory goes to Adelheid Morat. Jolanda Neff had a strong first race and finished second. "I felt very good. I would like to have this kind of competition more often," says Neff with a smile. Denmark's Annika Langvad finishes in third place. The other Swiss women have nothing to hide either. Kathrin Stirnemann finished seventh, while Linda Indergand, Katrin Leumann and Nathalie Schneitter came ninth to eleventh.

The first stage of the four-day Afxentia race rides over a 52-kilometer lap. The start and finish is in Lefkara.

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