Αn impressive finish in the crowded centre of Agrinio, on Charilaou Trikoupi Street’s slight uphill, saw Matteo Moscetti of Q36.5 Pro Cycling, winning an exciting first stage of the 2025 ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas. The Italian, winner in the second stage of the 2022 Greek Tour, was impressive in the final bunch sprint, overtook Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen of Jayco AlUla and temporarily took possession of the cyan jersey as well as the red (Points) jersey, since stage victory awarded 15 points.
On his return to Greece, 28-year-old Moschetti, who had a serious accident in July 2024, left his mark from Day 1, in what it looks to be the most difficult Tour of Hellas since the revival of the race in 2022.
The Tour resumes tomorrow (April 3), with the second 177.50 k, stage from Agrinio to Arachova.
The race
The first 140.39 km stage of the ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas 2025 started at 1 pm local time from the University of Patras and in unstable weather conditions.
It didn’t take long for seven riders to form the breakaway group that would vie for the first intermediate sprint and KoM points.
These seven were George Radcliffe (XSpeed United), Daniel Mraz (Elkov – Kasper), Ewout De Keyser (Tarteletto – Isorex), Konrad Czabok (Mazowsze Serce Polski), Valentin Poschacher (Hrinkow Advarics), Lukas Vries (Parkhotel Valkenburg), and Anton Theo Lennemann (BIKEAID).
Poschacher won the first intermediate sprint in Missolonghi and snatched three points. De Keyser and Mraz were second and third respectively.
The second intermediate sprint awaited the breakaways as they reached the town of Astakos. Czabok proved to be the faster and was followed by Mraz and Poschacher.
In the meantime, the gap between the leaders and the peloton was cut to one minute with Jayco AlUla riders seemed to control the race, along with XDS Astana and Q36.5 Pro Cycling. It was obvious that the stage winner would most probably emerge from these three teams.
At the first real ascend and on a wet surface, the first to drop were Mraz and Lennemann. On the way to the sole KoM of the day, in Fyties, the riders had to beat scattered rain drops as well.
Eventually, the red jersey was captured by Briton Radcliffe, who suddenly attacked and surprised the other four, despite a brave effort by Czabok, who wsecond, while De Keyser, who prevailed over the other two breakaways, ranked third. The points awarded in this cat. 3 KoM were 3,2 and 1 respectively.
Shortly after the Acheloos bridge, the peloton had visual contact with the leading group. De Keyser and Radcliffe were the last to resist until they were "swallowed" by the peloton with 5.6 km to go.
About a kilometre later, several riders were involved in a crash - fortunately no one suffered any serious injury.
After the last R/A, about 25-30 riders entered the final straight for the bunch sprint. Dylan Groenewegen, took the lead a few metres before the finish line, but with Matteo Moschetti close behind, on the Dutch’s rear wheel. The Italian came out of the inside, overtook Groenewegen and won the right to wear the cyan jersey, while he also topped the points’ classification. However, in tomorrow's second stage, the red jersey will be worn by Gleb Syritsa (XDS Astana), who was third in the stage, since Groenewegen is Netherlands’ champion.
The white jersey went to Belgian Mathis Avondts (Parkhotel Valkenburg), sixth in the stage. There was delight for local fans as well, since Nikiforos Arvanitou crossed the finish line in eleventh place.
Quotes
Matteo Moschetti: "I'm really happy. The whole team had a good race. We controlled the race, especially with Jacob. We earn our goal, so we are satisfied. I'm also happy for the lead in points. We have good team. To win the first stage here, is very nice".
George Radcliffe: "I'm pretty happy with the lead in the overall mountain classification. It' s my first jersey ever in a race, so I'm satisfied, that I succeeded here in Greece, an awesome country. Beautiful route. In an ascend, I stared to enjoy the view, just for a few seconds, before I moved on".
Mathis Avondts: "It was a really nice day for me. Hard race, in the last 20km it's was tough. Overall, I'm satisfied. It was of course a team effort. We have good team and I'm very confident, especially against big guys. So really proud of them".
