Lindgren sprints to stage win

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Emil Lindgren (Rabobank-Giant) and Annika Langvad (Fujibikes Rockets) took stage wins during day 2 of the Afxentia mountain bike race in Cyprus on Saturday. Lindgren outsprinted Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized Factory Racing) for the win while Fabien Giger (Rabobank-Giant) finished third, two seconds further back. Kulhavy defended his lead in the overall. Langvad finished the 38.6km women's race well ahead of Adelheid Morath (Felt Ötztal-X-Bionic) and Sabine Spitz (Sabine Spitz-Haibike).

Men

The 44.5km stage was decided after a nine-man lead group hit the slopes of a 7km singletrack climb that took racers to the highest point on the course. From the top, racers had just 10 mostly downhill kilometers to go.

Germany's Manuel Fumic (Cannondale Factory Racing) and Emil Lindgren set a pace that cause some of the other to drop off.

Halfway up the climb, Lindgren started losing air in his back tire. He knew he could not go into the following downhill with insufficient air in his tire, so he tried to get a gap on the last kilometer of the climb, which gave him more time to change his wheel at the tech zone at the top. With a few meters of advantage, he changed his wheel and lost just 15 seconds to Jaroslav Kulhavy, Manuel Fumic and Fabian Giger.

"I knew I could catch back up on the long downhill," said Lindgren afterward and he did just that. With about 11 minutes of downhilling toward the finish, the four riders stayed mostly together.

Then Fumic lost the contact because he had to jump off the bike due to a small chain problem. "That was not the big problem. But I couldn't get back, because in this narrow track at the edge, I couldn't pass the women in front of me. So I saw the other three riding away," said Fumic, a bit disappointed after getting fourth place for the third time in a row.

The final kilometer proved exciting. First, Giger tried to escape on the small, last uphill, but Kulhavy hung onto his wheel. Then Lindgren counterattacked and passed them both in an explosive effort. He went into the final singletrack in first position and then held off Kulhavy in the short sprint straight to the line.

"What a day," said Lindgren. "I had the flat tire, the latex fluid kept some air, but I had maybe only one bar left. I knew that I am fast on the downhill and so I would be able to make it back. It was a good day for me. Cool, that's a good start into the season." Lindgren said he worked together with his teammate Giger.

In the overall classification, Kulhavy kept his lead with five seconds over Lindgren. Giger jumped to third place, 17 seconds behind Kulhavy. Fumic is in fourth, at 42 seconds. They all will have the chance to get the overall win at Sunday's cross country race.

"I had bad legs today and it was hard to keep on the wheels," said Kulhavy. "I'm glad I was able to keep the leader's jersey. I think tomorrow is the decisive day, and probably my legs will be better then."

Giger said, "My legs were super today. I tried to set a high pace in the long singletrack uphill to shrink the group. I tried to attack with one kilometer to go, but couldn't escape. Tomorrow will be very hard, and I hope I can make it to the podium."

Women

The women's race unfolded in an interesting way. Teriza Hurikova (Sabine Spitz-Haibike) suffered a flat. She was in the lead, followed by Adelheid Morath, when she realized she'd lost air on a singletrack section.

"My wheels were like chewing gum," said Hurikova. "I had to stop and blow my tire up. It kept, but I had to pass all the riders in the singletrack." It cost her time. "It's hard if you feel very strong."

"In my opinion, she was the strongest today. I'm sorry for her," said Langvad after winning.

Morath, Spitz and Langvad reached the long major singletrack climb in the lead, with 45 seconds on a six-woman chase group.

Morath was riding strong, but in the second half of the climb, she had to get off her bike several times. "I didn't know the course. So I made some mistakes," said Morath.

Langvad was able to pass and open a gap. Meanwhile Spitz was suffering with a cold she'd had for the past three days.

"For three days, I've had to cough at night," said Spitz. "Yesterday it was not problem for one lap, but today in the long climb it was a factor. We will see what happens for tomorrow."

In the long downhill, Morath crashed and lost some more time. "I needed a long time to bring my bar ends into the right position," she said.  That left Langvad free to ride solo to the win, repeating her victory of last year. She had 1:17 on Morath and 1:36 on Spitz in the end.

"When I got in front, I had a good rhythm and could get away," said Langvad. "That was nice. It's a pity for Tereza. I think tomorrow will be another hard day."

Anja Gradl (Team Bulls) surprised some by being the best of the rest at 3:01. Katrin Leumann (Ghost Factory Racing was fifth.

In the overall classification, Langvad took the lead in front of Morath and Spitz. She leads by 1:19 to Morath and 1:24 to Spitz. Hurikova is at 2:55, and it will be difficult for her to fight for the classification at Sunday's cross country race.

Full Results for the stage (Note: GC not provided)