MTB cycling: Sabine Spitz had an almost ideal start to the season in Cyprus at the Afxentia mountain bike stage race. With a first place and two second places, the Olympic champion finished fourth in the overall ranking. Only two punctures on the second stage prevented the perfect start to the season.
For Sabine Spitz, Cyprus has become a fixture in her mountain bike racing career. The German record champion has been starting the season on the second largest island in the Mediterranean for many years. The professional athlete from Bad Säckingen was particularly looking forward to this year's Afxentia mountain bike stage race: The 20th edition of the race also marked the opening of her last Olympic year. Although Sabine Spitz lowered expectations in advance, the Olympic champion showed on the four stages what good physical condition she is in at the moment.
The Afxentia mountain bike stage race started with the time trial over 4 kilometers. Here, Sabine Spitz surprisingly proved with second place that she can also cope with very short, intense loads. Fastest driver of the time trial was Elisabeth Brandau, third place was Adelheid Morath. The second part of the day led the cyclists into the mountainous hinterland of Lefkara. The program included 48 kilometers in demanding terrain. A leading group of three had already formed right on the first climb, which also included Sabine Spitz. However, a sharp stone that slashed the tread of the rear wheel was Spitz's undoing. Another flat tire - this time on the front wheel - happened to her on the last climb. Elisabeth Brandau celebrated her second victory, followed by Adelheid Morath and Serbian Jovana Crnogorac.
Unimpressed by the previous stage of the day, Spitz put a lot of pressure on the third leg to the top of the Machairas mountains. She confidently secured the day's victory with a superior lead of 1:06 minutes over Adelheid Morath. Third place went to Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa from Norway. Due to the two punctures on the second day and the resulting loss of time, Sabine Spitz hardly had the opportunity to get on the podium in the overall classification despite her outstanding performance. Due to this starting position, Spitz started the cross-country race rather cautiously. After being in the chasing group for a while, she was able to break away from this group more and more and finally overtook Elisabeth Brandauer, who had been second up until then. Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa won with a lead of 2:04 minutes over Spitz.
In the overall ranking, Sabine Spitz ranks fourth with a lag of just over 7:30 minutes. The overall winner of the competition is Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa, followed by Adelheid Morath (0:38 minutes) and Githa Michiels (3:52 minutes). For Sabine Spitz, the stay in Cyprus is not over yet: next weekend she will be at the start of another cross-country race.