Germany's Schafer wins Tour of Hellas

Stefan Schafer from Germany was the winner of the 17th Cycling Tour

of Hellas on Sunday, but his victory was shrouded in controversy as his Greek rival, Yiannis Tamouridis, who ended up second, claimed foul play from the part of the winner.

Tamouridis was the runaway leader up to almost the end of the third stage on Friday, when a German cyclist of the same team as the winner, Niklas Arndt allegedly caused him to fall just before Delphi and lose precious ground.

The 30-year-old Greek said that "this was a kamikaze move. He came straight at me and although he could see me he would not change his course."

Schafer, of the LKT-TEAM Brandenburg team, therefore cut the distance from the Greek and manage to overtake him during the weekend to finish first after the last stage held on Sunday in rainy Athens.

He finished five seconds ahead of Tamouridis, who suggested that had there been video evidence of what happened outside Delphi the result would have been very different.

Despite the rain over the weekend, the race was a great success, according to its organizers, featuring 110 cyclists from 90 countries. It constituted the return of the event after six years.

Another Greek, Polychronis Tzortzakis, ended up sixth, also winning the youth category.

source: SPORTINGREECE