First stage of 'ΔΕΗ International Tour of Hellas' cycling race completed in Crete

The first stage of the five-day cycling race 'ΔΕΗ International Tour of Hellas' was completed on the island of Crete on Wednesday.

Participating athletes reached the Venetian Port of Chania after cycling 179 km through the hinterland of Heraklion, Rethymno and Chania.

Awards were handed out at Yali Mosque in Chania to the top three cyclists: Aaron Gate of the Bolton Equities Black Spoke team, Eduard Prades of Team Caja Rural-RGA, and Filippo Baroncini of Trek-Segafredo.

The entire tour involves 18 teams with 133 cyclists, representing 5 continents and 26 countries.

At Chania, they were greeted by Deputy Sports Minister Lefteris Avgenakis and Greek National Tourism Organization General Secretary Dimitris Fragakis. US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt attended the team's presentation event held at Mikros Koule in Heraklion on Wednesday morning, along with representatives of local authorities.

Ten years went by before "we brought back this major cycling event," Avgenakis told Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA). The event has been upgraded and now spans five of the country's regions, and includes 160 parallel actions, added the minister; he also mentioned the fact that many children and families attended the race events. The minister also mentioned the valuable assistance of the Hellenic Police, the Red Cross and the Greek Cycling Federation (EOP).

The total distance of the cycling tour of Greece is 846.6 km, and includes 5 stages. Participants will be crossing 28 cities, and are scheduled to finish the tour on May 1 in the city of Ioannina, NW Greece, after continuing in Attica, central Greece and Thessaly. It is being broadcast by 46 TV stations around the world.

ANA-MPA is a media sponsor of ΔΕΗ International Tour of Hellas.