Former Russian pro rider Aidar Zakarin, 29, and world champion German rower Laura Tibitanzl, 39, each claimed overall victory at the 3-day Gran Fondo Cyprus stage race last weekend from a field of 400 participants.

Zakarin won the 28km out-and-back time trial on Friday with a time of 36:10, beating Evgenii Tikhonin (36:19) and Kirill Kolenchits (38:02). Zakarin’s older brother Ilnur, who is also a former professional cyclist, was next at 38:04. Laura Tibitanzl was the fastest woman in 42:04, just ahead of Naomi De Pennington (42:08) and Diana Egerton-Warburton (46:52).

On Saturday riders tackled the 102km queen stage with 1820m of climbing. Aidar Zakarin soloed to victory in 2:24:59, once again beating Evgenii Tikhonin, Dmitrii Puzanov and his brother Ilnur by almost three minutes. In the women’s competition, Tibitanzl dominated the race and confirmed her overall lead by winning solo in 2:49:05. Meredith Byrne and Martyna Wisnieska finished next.

For the third stage, riders completed a short 59km route, but with almost the same elevation as the day before. Evgenii Tikhonin finally earned victory, defeating Dmitrii Puzanov and Illnur Zakarin by 4 and 15 seconds respectively. Close behind was Aidar Zakarin who rolled in to secure the overall general classification win. The women’s race almost saw the same podium as the day before, with Laura Tibitanzl in first place, Meredith Byrne as second and Georgiou Constantina in third.

Riders finishing in the top 25% of their age/gender category in any of the three stages automatically qualified to participate in the 2024 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships taking place in Denmark at the end of the season.

Complete UCI Cyprus Gran Fondo results HERE.

Photo Credit: Instagram/UCI_gran_fondo_cyprus

© 2019-2024 All Rights Reserved Gran Fondo Daily