Cink and Neff win Cyprus Sunshine Cup in Voroklini

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The second and final round of the Cyprus Sunshine Cup - in Voroklini - ended with a Czech duel. Ondrej Cink (Multivan Merida) won ahead of Jan Skarnitzl (SRAM Rubena Trek). Third place went to Thomas Litscher (Multivan Merida). In a close finish in the women's race, Jolanda Neff (Giant Pro XC) passed Blaza Klemencic (Felt Feenstra) to take her second CSC win. Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa (Multivan Merida) was third. Both Cink and Neff were also crowned overall Sunshine Cup winners.

Men

The men's race came down to a battle between two Czech riders after Rudi van Houts (Multivan-Merida) lost the contact with Cink and Skarnitzl. Prior to that, his teammate José Antonio Hermida had suffered from a flat tire and also came off the lead group. Their other teammate Julian Schelb had crashed and broke a spoke in his rear wheel.

From lap three onward, Cink and Skarnitzl increased their advantage up to as much as 30 seconds while Thomas Litscher tried to reconnect with the chase group. He had struggled a bit on the first lap, but then found his rhythm.

Cink and Skarnitzl stayed together until the final lap. Then Cink took the advantage on an uphill singletrack.

"He was stronger there every lap, and I could not close the gap again," said Skarnitzl. "It was a great race, and I am satisfied with that result. Ondrej was very strong."

The victorious Cink crossed the finish line 17 seconds earlier and of course was happy about his first season win.

"During the week, I felt tired and even yesterday not so good. But today, everything was perfect. I felt super for the whole race and could do what I want," said Cink. "It was a very, very good day for me."

Behind them both, Litscher caught van Houts and left him behind. After the first lap, Litscher was going as fast as leading duo and finally took the third spot on the podium.

"Finally it worked out and that makes me calm. My first lap was not really good, but then I was able to push," said Litscher, who finished 35 seconds after the leaders. "I need concentrate on myself, then it pays off."

Van Houts was a bit unlucky about missing the top three, but not unhappy with his race. "On the uphill, they were stronger, so I tried to be in front when it went into the downhill, so I could make the gap to the rest. Later it was a fight against Wolfram Kurschat. It's a bit a shame to loose the podium at the end," said van Houts.

Kurschat was okay with his first race appearance of the season The 38-year-old Topeak-Ergon rider talked about missing the power to continue pushing after the climbs, compared to the riders already were racing the Afxentia last weekend.

"Finally I am happy with my debut," the German said after six laps of 6km each and the start loop of 3.2km.

In the overall classification of the Cyprus Sunshine Cup, it was the same Czech double. Cink took the orange jersey for the first time, ahead of Skarnitzl.

Women

The second Sunshine Cup victory of Jolanda Neff within two weekends was obviously was deserved. The 21-year-old under 23 world champion punctured in the first of four complete laps. After changing her back wheel, she passed the finish line in seventh with 40 seconds to make up on the three women in the lead group.

Neff fought back and at the end of the following lap, she had already caught the leaders. In lap three, Neff and Klemencic (Feenstra-Felt) got away, Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa (Multivan-Merida) followed eight seconds behind and Maja Wloszczowska (Liv Pro XC) was a further 15 seconds back.

Neff and Klemencic increased the gap and in the last downhill and it came down to an exciting finish. Klemencic was leading and Neff not able to pass, even she probably could have gone faster.

They reached the asphalt and there was a fast corner. "Blaza took the outside line and found the gap to pass her," Neff said.

"I felt pretty strong on the uphill and was okay in the downhill. But Jolanda, she is so fast on the downhill, I had no chance," said Klemencic, who was a bit unhappy about having to race on her training bike. "Unfortunately I didn't get my new bike yet to get used to it. For the race, I am fine with the result."

Neff was smiling after the finish. "Super cool, that I could make it after having this flat tire. I tried to ride my pace. It couldn't go better than to win the whole Cyprus Sunshine Cup," said Neff. Her two wins gave her the CSC overall.

Nine-time world champion Gunn-Rita Dahle-Flesjaa said, "I felt strong, but I am not in shape. Of course, I should be happy to make it on the podium, but the body is not so far. I had to control myself and ride on strength. It went pretty well on the uphill and in the technical parts. First podium gives me motivation, it was a good fight with the girls."

Wloszczowska was happy with her first season appearance. "I had a lot of health problems this winter. So it's good to be in the front group, already in the first race. Even if it was too fast for me, I decided to keep up as long as possible. Of course, I am happy with the victory of my teammate," she said.

Sabine Spitz confessed that she could not push so well in Voroklini."Today I was not able to reach my top heartrate. Probably I was not completely fresh. I missed the front group and then had to ride solo."

Record number of participants

More racers than ever competed in Voroklini: 86 men and 38 women in the elite races.

"We are really glad about this improvement and are looking forward to next year. The success of this year gives us motivation to work on some details for 2015. Thanks to all the support we got from the communities, Cyprus Tourism Organization and Cyprus Cycling Federation and also thanks to all the positive comments," said organizer Mike Hadjioannou.

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