Lindgren finshes Cyprus Sunshine Cup in style

Image 1 of 13

Cyprus Sunshine Cup 2012 ended up with the victories of Annika Langvad (Den) and Emil Lindgren (Swe) at Amathous. Langvad repeated her last year's win and celebrated her third win in three races of the series. Close behind Adelheid Morath (Ger) came into second, while Tereza Hurikova took third place. Emil Lindgren was victorious in front of Fabian Giger (Swi) and Jan Skarnitzl (Cze). The overall went to Giger and Langvad.

Elite women

It was Adelheid Morath (Felt Ötztal X-Bionic), who put her stamp on the first half of the 24.7-kilometer race of the women. She took the lead and under split up the bunch as she applied pressure. Surprisingly, it was Dutchwoman Anne Terpstra (MPL Specialized) who was the first to follow Morath.

The duo only gained about 10 seconds on the following group, led by Annika Langvad (Fujbikes Rockets) and followed by Blaza Klemencic (Felt Ötztal X-Bionic), Irina Kalentieva (Topeak-Ergon) and Tereza Hurikova (Sabine Spitz-Haibike).

In the second lap, Langvad closed the gap, and the three opened a difference of 20 seconds to the three remaining chasers. Elisabeth Brandau (notebooksbilliger.de) and Olympic champion Sabine Spitz (Sabine Spitz-Haibike) were riding behind them in seventh and eight position.

On the third lap, Terpstra couldn’t hold the speed, and Hurikova left the chasers behind, coming closer to the third spot. At the beginning of the fourth and last lap, Hurikova was able to pass Terpstra and was only 15 seconds behind the two leaders.

In the last lap, Langvad took first position and created a gap of some seconds to Morath. The German fought back, but on the last technical uphill, Langvad was stronger and finally escaped for the win, with seven seconds on Morath, while Hurikova came in third with 18 seconds to the victorious Langvad, who stopped the clock at 1:19:55.

Langvad won the Cyprus Sunshine Cup overall after winning all three races.  Second place went to Hurikova ahead of  Spitz.

"I was pretty tired after the Afxentia stage race," said Langvad. "So I waited on my legs, and then I could go at a good rhythm. In the last two laps, I could go a good speed and I felt very good. I was very excited about what would happen today. I’m now looking forward to the World Cup opener in Pietermaritzburg."

Morath praised Langvad for her performance, crediting her with just being stronger on the day.

"My legs were really good today. I knew these steep climbs are good for me," said Morath. "When I had a gap at the beginning, I was surprised. The lap I was not sure how much we had to go. Annika attacked, I came back, but she was too strong. I was relaxed today and I’m happy with my performance towards the World Cup opener."

Team tactics pave the way for Lindgren

The men's competition was a start to finish victory for Emil Lindgren. But despite the fact that the Swede from Giant-Rabobank always was riding in front, the gap was never more than 25 seconds and his win was not secure until the last kilometer.

At the beginning Thomas Litscher (Felt Ötztal X-Bionic) and 2011 Amathous winner Henk-Jaap Moorlag (Rabobank-Giant) were following Lindgren but at the end of the first lap, Lindgren escaped.

Litscher later started to suffer, caused by his injuries from last weekend's crash. In the second of five laps, the chase group with Jan Skarnitzl (Rubena Birell Specialized), his teammate Jiri Friedl, Fabian Giger (Rabobank-Giant), Jochen Kaess (Multivan-Merida) and Maxime Marotte (BH Suntour) were closing the gap to Moorlag.

Kaess couldn’t follow, Friedl later had to stop due to a mechanical and Marotte missed the group, because Litscher blocked him for a moment, putting up a gap Marotte could not overcome.

During the third lap, Skarnitzl and Giger got away from the rest. It was Skarnitzl who had to do the work in the wind, because Giger, for team tactical reasons, didn’t want chase Lindgren.

Skarnitzl put a gap on Lindgren of just under 15 seconds, but Lindgren got back up to the front. In the last lap, Giger attacked and went into second position. Giger was only 10 seconds behind his teammate, but Lindgren was able to defend for the victory.  Giger finished 13 seconds back. Skarnitz secured third place, while Marotte came into fourth. Rabobank Giant swept all three podium spots with Moorlag in third.

"There was no room to make a mistake out there today," said Lindgren. "My teammates were perfect, in the way they controlled the chasing group. It was a pretty good day. It’s great to have that start into the season, for me and for the team. Now I hope to keep that shape until Pietermaritzburg."

Giger got the bigger title however, snaring the overall of the Cyprus Sunshine Cup for the first time in his career. Lindgren was second.

"Ideally I think today it would have possible to do more," said Giger. "The legs were pretty good, my shape is perfect. But by the same token, it was an okay conclusion to the Sunshine Cup, and it’s a nice gift to win the overall."

Cyprus Sunshine Cup final series standings