Australian Lucas Plapp emerged victorious after a spectacular duel against Ecuadorian Harold Martín López at the second stage of the 2025 ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas that was decided in the final part of the route from Delphi to Arachova.
The victor of the second part of Greece’s flagship cycling race was declared at the entrance to the popular winter resort, with Jayco AlUla's Plapp winning the final climb over the XDS Astana rider and taking the first victory for his team in the Tour.
Nevertheless, at the end of the 22-kilometer ascend under heavy rain, it was Harold Martín López the one who won the right to wear the GC cyan jersey with a difference of three seconds over Plapp, who topped the ranks in the Points and KoM classification. The white jersey of the best young cyclist went to Bogdan Zabelinskiy of the Cypriot national team, who was ninth in the second stage from Agrinio to Arachova.
Tomorrow, Friday (4/4), the third stage will kick off from Delphi at 1 pm. The riders are expected to reach Chalkida at around 4.40 pm after 151.78 kilometres of racing.
The race
Agrinio residents bid farewell to the 2025 ΔΕΗ Tour of Hellas riders at 12 noon in the city centre, with a big cheer. The clock started counting from the 177th kilometre in Kainourgio with the large and enthusiastic audience setting the pace for the peloton with their warm support.
With the first cat. 3 KoM set at Thermo 21.6 kilometers later, it didn’t take long for the nine-rider breakaway group to form. Daniel Sidlo of Monzon - Incolor – Gub took the maximum points (5) and was followed by Konrad Czabok of Mazowsze Serce Polski (3), Maximilian Kabas of Hrinkow Advarics (2) and Jordy Decottignies of Tarteletto – Isorex (1).
The first intermediate sprint followed in kilometre 34 near Pamphion. The three points were claimed by Vincent Hoppezak (Parkhotel Valkenburg), while Richard Riska (Hrinkow Advarics) won two points and Sidlo one.
In Pitsinaiika, in the second, also cat. 3 KoM, Sidlo one again took the maximum points, and was followed by Decottignies, Czabok and Riska.
With the first three intermediate or KoM sprints completed and shortly after the sharp left turn outside Nafpaktos, the gap between the breakaway group and the peloton was more than five and a half minutes.
All this time, the peloton monitored the developments in the leading group, with the XDS Astana riders setting the pace, trailed by their ATT Investments counterparts.
Some 40 kilometres later with 60 km still remaining until the finish line in Arachova, the gap was cut to 1:30 minutes and later on to one minute, right before the second intermediate sprint in Itea, which was won by Hoppezak. Second and third was Czabok and Riska respectively.
With 22 kilometres to go, the breakaway group entered the last climb, which was also the most beautiful, part of the stage. The peloton trailed by twenty seconds and the climbers started to warming-up and get ready for the final sprint.
The first attack came from Diego Ulissi of XDS Astana with 14 kilometres to go. Colin Stussi of Vorarlberg made the brave decision to go ahead and he was only chased by Walter Calzoni.
With 6.5 kilometres still remaining Harold Martín López of XDS Astana and Lucas Plapp of Jayco AlUla caught Stussi. Another attack from Plapp saw him leading by ten seconds and later on by half a minute. Only Granizo stayed in the chase and with 1.4 kilometre until the finish line he caught him. A few seconds later the leading duo begun the final decisive sprint under heavy rain.
Plapp, traditionally strong in the time trial and the 2020 Olympic bronze medallist in the team pursuit, was fastest and claimed the stage victory in front of an enthusiastic crowd which gave both riders a warm applause. Marcin Budzinski of ATT Investments finished third, nine seconds behind.
Quotes
Lucas Plapp: "The weather was super nasty, especially the final climb, but I'm super happy. I'm satisfied for the win as well as the points and the mountain classification. There are still some stages to go, so hopefully we will see in the end of the week about the general classification".
Bogdan Zabelinskiy: "I feel pretty good for the jersey and the position (9th). I am really surprised that I didn't drop in the climbing, but the preparation paid off. It was a team effort of course, but we had a crash in the climb, as well in the slippery road, but other than that, it's quite OK".
Harold Martín López: "I'm very happy, this is my first GC jersey. I worked too hard after my crashing in Australia. Today the work of the team was really-really good, controlled the race and besides the second place, I'm the GC leader, so I'm happy. About the second stage, the final climbing was slippery, very difficult, but I felt good. I have confidence in my team and now I enjoy the moment".
Photos - ΔΕΗ tour Of Hellas 2025
