The Lotto Kern-Haus team reports on Velomotion from the international Tour of Rhodes (UCI EuropeTour 2.2). With a small diary by Robert W. Kessler you will get exclusive insights into the racing events on site. On today's second stage, the team with Joshua Huppertz was able to take the lead in the overall standings with another second place.
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As announced, we went to the mountains today. I should go into the group to serve as a relay station on the mountain if necessary. I didn't splash out on that and collected the first group point of the season. The four of us then completed the first 50km and the first climb. On the second and longest mountain, a Finn and two Greeks caught up. After that it was only over wavy to mountainous terrain and surprisingly we were able to keep the lead at 2-2,5 minutes. Meanwhile, the expected large selection in the field did not materialize, so that my actual task became void. Bardiani now followed in the peloton, Joshi, Luca, Nowakopolus and Tobi were still part of the game and saved a few grains to shave the mountain finish. Before that, the team was strong and as a team, but also had a bit of bad luck with flat tires. Dorian and Tobi kindly made their wheels available for Nowakopolus and Joshi. Towards the final, the pace in the field increased significantly and we were caught at around 6 km to go. Meanwhile, the others have positioned themselves in front and Tobi kept them out of the wind. I was excited for a moment, but then I had to pay tribute to the long day. Now it really got down to business after a short descent, there was a sharp left onto the 1,6 km long final climb with an incline of up to approx. 15%. The boys rode in at the front, after a slight delay they attacked the 800m pre-goal in the steepest section. Five men got loose, Joshi was there and then sprinted to an outstanding second place. So today he takes over the overall lead with a 9s lead, which we naturally want to defend tomorrow! Nowakopolus and Luca also finished 10th and 11th very well. I think you can say my mustache didn't fool me and we can start tomorrow's final stage with confidence, but the Italians will certainly not make it easy for us.
The only question that remains open is how the scooter rider, who has completely submerged in the water hole, is doing, he should please send us a sign of life.
Sunny greetings from Rhodes
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