Acropolis Cup II - 1.5

Greece, June 22, 2003

Results

George Ninos celebrates his first UCI victory

By Dimitris Konstantopoulos

20 year-old George Ninos celebrated his first victory in a UCI approved event at the Acropolis Cup II, held on Sunday, June 22.

The race began with a 5km climb, and attacks started almost from the beginning. Ninos attacked unsuccesfully early in the race, but tried again and again, finally succeeding on his own on the second of the four lap, 32km circuit.

The race, which was held around the beautiful city of Lavrion, Sounion and South Attika National Park, was rather hilly and the lack of continuous straights helped excellent climber Ninos to stay clear for over 70km.

No-one seemed to be able to follow Ninos's pace, and with 50 kilometres remaining, the time difference between Ninos and peloton was up to 4'30". Greek pro Vassilis Anastopoulos seemed the only person willing or strong enough to chase down Ninos, but the pace of Ninos, the strong winds and some crashes saw almost 30 riders finishing outside the time limit.

Anastopoulos took the bunch sprint for second from Markos Moraitakis and Iosif Dalezios, with Nino's teammate, Iosif Dalezios, a significant factor in victory for Kronos Nikeas, finishing in fourth place.

Results, 127.2 km

1 Georgios Ninos (Gre) Kronos Nikeas                       3.43.42 (34.22 km/h)
2 Vassilis Anastopoulos (Gre) Patras Cycling Club             2.50
3 Markos Moraitakis (Gre) Talos Chania                        2.50
4 Iosif Dalezios (Gre) Kronos Nikeas                          2.55
5 Emmanouil Kotoulas (Gre) E.o.s.Acharnon - Mixed Team        4.35
6 Alexandros Mayridis (Gre) Velos Salonika                    6.12
7 Elpidoforos Potouridis (Gre) Nea Ionia                      6.12
8 Georgios Tentsos (Gre) Velos Salonika                       6.12
9 Ioannis Tsakouridis (Gre) Velos Salonika                    7.51
10 Vasileios Gianniosis (Gre) Nea Ionia                       7.51
11 Konstantinos Bardis (Gre) E.o.s.Acharnon - Mixed Team      8.28