Vos and Giger in yellow in Afxentia

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Marianne Vos (Rabobank/Liv Giant) took the second stage in Afxentia stage race at Macheras Mountains. The Dutchwoman, who is road Olympic champion, won in front of Adelheid Morath (Sabine Spitz-Haibike) and Blaza Klemencic (Calcit Bike) and took over the yellow leader's jersey.

Fabian Giger (Giant Pro XC) was able to leave Olympic mountain bike champion Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized racing) behind and took over the men's leader's jersey. Third spot on the podium went to Jan Skarnitzl (Sram Rubena-Specialized).

Women

Marianne Vos delivered an impressive show on a warm and sunny day. About halfway through the 41km point to point race, she helped split the group on steeper climbs.

Marianne Vos, Adelheid Morath and her teammate Sabine Spitz (Sabine Spitz-Haibike) stayed at the front and were followed by Katrin Leumann (Ghost Factory Racing), Blaza Klemencic, Eva Lechner (Colnago Südtirol) and Kathrin Stirnemann (Sabine Spitz-Haibike), who later dropped back due to a broken chain.

Spitz could not hold the speed of Vos and Morath, and so the duo increased their lead up to 30 seconds, before they entered the long, uphill singletrack.

In the last and steepest part of the singletrack, Vos accelerated and got away. With a fabulous ride for the last 15 kilometers, Vos took 3:32 minutes out of Morath. She even surprised by doing so on a section that included a long, technical downhill, a place where road riders might typically struggle.

"I managed to make a gap," said Vos. "Then on the descent, I tried to stay in control, not to take any risks. But it's hard, when you have such a long climb before."

"It's pretty cool to win here. I didn't expect to be so good. Yesterday already was a surprise. Of course, the big climbs suits me better than the downhill. I am really happy, that it worked out, incredible."

Morath was able to keep her second position in front of Klemencic, who already had left Sabine Spitz behind her.

"I missed the last bit of punch at the end of the climb to follow Marianne," said Morath. "But it was great to have the challenge with her. That's what I was looking for today. She was stronger than me and in the downhill, I was still missing that racing feeling. I am super satisfied with my result."

Klemencic said, "It was a hard day out there. Before the steep uphill, I caught first Leumann and then Spitz and then I could go my on pace. I still stayed in the top three, that was my goal. My team did a good job for me. Tomorrow will be another race, I like cross country the most."

The Olympic mountain bike champion lost her fourth place on the downhill to Katrin Leumann, who was blazing this part.

Men

The men's 45.5km race was decided similarly to the women.

It stated with five men in front: Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized Racing), Fabian Giger (Giant Pro XC), Periklis Ilias (Full-Dynamix), Jan Skarnitzl (Sram Rubena-Specialized) and Matthias Wengelin (Sweden).

Race leader after stage 1, Emil Lindgren (Giant Pro XC), was already 20 seconds behind at the bottom of the first, long singletrack climb.

At the last part of the uphill, Giger took the chance to attack and succeeded. Kulhavy followed on second position, while his countrymate Skarnitz left Ilias and Wengelin behind.

On the downhill, Giger was fast enough to get to the finish with a 36-second advantage, enough to put him in the yellow jersey. Kulhavy now sits in second, 32 seconds behind the Swiss rider.

"It was my plan to attack in the singletrack and to watch how the others responded," said Giger. "It worked super and I was good through the technical parts. In the downhill it's not easy. You have to push for the overall and in the same time to be safe. It's nice to have this win, like I had wished to have."

Kulhavy said, "Fabian was strong and he took about 10 seconds in the uphill. In the downhill, it was a bit dangerous, because we had to pass women. I am still a bit tired, but that's normal after that kind of training."

Skarnitzl was only seven seconds behind Kulhavy and now is also third in the overall.

"It was a good day for me, better than expected," said Skarnitzl. "Yesterday, I rode the same time as last year, but only got seventh place, instead of four last 2012. I am really surprised about today."

While yesterday's third placed Henk-Jaap Moorlag (Giant Pro XC) had two flat tires and lost 3:45 to Giger, Lindgren was able to make it back to fifth place, 17 seconds behind his fellow Swede Wengelin, who took fourth position.

Marathon world champion Periklis Ilias came into sixth place, 2:40 back.

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