The concluding stage of the Tour of Rhodes Powered by Rodos Palace took place on March 15, 2026, covering 156.4 km around Kremasti. The route featured 2623 meters of vertical gain and an average speed of 39.69 km/h. Conditions were particularly challenging as recent rain had damaged the roads, washing gravel onto the course and necessitating a technical meeting before the start to address a 300 meter gravel sector. Matteo Scalco (XDS Astana Development Team) claimed the stage victory. Team United Shipping was forced to adapt after Tomáš Přidal was unable to start due to illness. DS Tamás Toldi noted that “with Tomas out, our GC chances were gone, so we moved to Plan B: supporting Niki for as long as possible.” Despite the reduced numbers, Nikiforos Arvanitou managed a strong finish, taking 2nd in his group’s sprint to secure 20th place on the day.
Veljko’s assessment about today
Today was the day where my body just gave up on producing watts through the pedal strokes…
But I am really happy with our wins here in Rhodes: the team did its best to help Niki throughout the races and in the final stage too. For example, Schuri did exceptional work yesterday.
Next for the team are the one-day races in Slovenia, so I will try to get back on track and be ready for GP Novo Mesto. My relationship with Rastko is really good: he is only a first-year U23, so he has a lot to learn, but he is motivated to do the work and improve as much as possible every single day. He was a lot better than me in the Greek campaign! 🙂
Rastko’s fresh impressions
Today was very hard with all the climbing, but I’m happy that I stayed in the front group with Niki before the last big climb to position him well. I just finished my first block of racing here on Rhodes: it was pretty tough, but I really enjoyed it. I feel like I gained a lot of experience and helped the team, even if my personal results weren’t anything special yet.
In general, I feel very well-accepted, and the vibe and relationships with my teammates are great. I’m really motivated and excited for the upcoming races!
Tomi’s insights from the team car
Tomas reported during the night that he could not start, so 4 of us started. This ended our GC chances: we stayed with Plan B, keeping Niki there as long as we could.
Veljko climbed off around 35km, which is not surprising since the infamous Rhodes virus ran through him twice in the last 3 weeks. Suri ran out of steam halfway up the first big climb.
Rastko helped Niki as much as he could, then he also dropped, but in the tight descents he easily caught back up, then he could give Niki one more boost before just rolling in. Niki also dropped on the second climb, but he went huge in the descent and closed back to the second group, but it wasn’t possible to catch the yellow jersey. It didn’t help that the yellow jersey had two teammates there who masterfully trolled this group.
Finally, he finished 2nd in the group sprint, even though he was almost the only one leading the whole time. We had no technical problems, though there was an extraordinary technical meeting in the morning because the weather ruined the road, rain brought a lot of gravel onto the path and there was a 300 meter gravel section in the stage.
Rastko is a very pleasant surprise during the whole Rhodes trip, even though he was sick twice too. I am curious to see what he is like when healthy. It will take time for the guys to recover, as some lost 5 kilograms due to illness. This is how it is, such is the sport. We are not moping, there is no time: we have two important one-day races in the next two weekends, we are already there in our minds. We took all the precautions we could.
Istrian Spring Tour 3rd Stage: Pazin › Umag (125 km)
The final 125km stage of the Istrian Spring Tour from Pazin to Umag on March 15 was a high-speed affair. Despite the 1223 meters of vertical gain, the peloton maintained an average speed of 47.508 km/h. The day was marked by sunny skies but significant wind, contributing to a nervous and chaotic atmosphere in the bunch. According to DS Dejan Percic, the finale mirrored the season opener, featuring six technical roundabouts within the last two kilometers. While the team worked to position Erik Fetter for the sprint, a crash involving ATT Investments riders in the final 2km forced a near standstill for the leaders. Alessio Magagnotti (Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe Rookies) took the stage victory.
Luca’s assessment about today
Sziasztok again!
I was our highest-placed rider today, though that wasn’t the plan. Erik and I were in a good position in the last few kilometers, but there was a crash in front of us, and I was the only one able to stay at the front.
The race overall was ‘full gas’ from start to finish: a lot of splits and breakaways, but it all came back together for the finish. As a team, we were pretty active and tried to play our cards whenever we had the chance.
These two weeks have been really good. I think we all expected a bit more from these races, but it’s hard to compare them with all the success from last year. Overall, we showed a good performance and managed to execute our plan most of the time. Also, Máté won a few KOMs, so he’s showing some promising form!
It was really nice to race here; you can’t get bored, as there is always something happening :). It was a lot of fun, and I think I gained some confidence again in these final fights. In the first couple of days, I was hesitant about making any ‘ballsy’ moves or simply following attacks.
It was also a good opportunity to sharpen my Hungarian skills 😉
I already know for sure that I am going to race in Slovenia, specifically the GP Adria, and if everything goes according to plan, we should go for a big result there. But for now, we have to take a few steps back, go home, and prioritize health and recovery.
Zsombi’s take on the chaos
It was a hard and chaotic race. I haven’t really felt 100% since the Umag race; it’s possible that what came out in Márkó and Barni is lurking in me too. The beginning of today felt really bad, I could barely stay in the peloton.
Today, a real breakaway group couldn’t get away either, only for very short times, so the tearing and attacking were constant. Then, about halfway through the race, something flipped in me, and I started to feel better and better. I attacked, or went with the attacks, and from then on, I was moving in the mix at the front. After the last mountain sprint, the pace was even more full gas until the finish.
We wanted to sprint for Erik, so we tried to get together at the front. However, the last 20 km were so chaotic and full of attacks that no one could really set up a train. I stayed to fight for positions, then Erik arrived on my wheel about 10 km before the end, which gave me an extra boost to move him forward and position him nicely.
I’ve really gotten a taste for this lately, so I think the position fight went well; I was able to box for Erik until the last 3 or 4 km. Then Luca could have taken over from there, he was there next to him, and they turned into the last 2 km in the leading group when the ATT guys fell in front of Erik, and he had to stop. At the last moment, I was able to take the traffic island from the left with Luca, so we escaped the crash. Unfortunately, this was quite unlucky, but as a team we moved well, a repeat of the Umag Classic result was even in it.
The chaos of the ‘devo’ Italian teams and the early season races really activates you for the season, that’s for sure. Even with a lightweight, mainly young team, we were able to be there in the mix. Erik’s 3rd place is excellent, and the top 20 finishes or the results of the mountain sprints are all super performances. Many people’s health was not 100%, but we still managed to hold our ground, we go forward from here.
The atmosphere was excellent, we laughed a lot, but in the meantime, we could stay focused on our tasks. Now we rest from the races, the work will sink in, we will get healthy, and we can move on. I’m looking forward to the next races!
Photos: Nassos Triantafyllou / https://www.cyclingphotos.gr/; Márton Sitku / https://www.instagram.com/marchives.raw/
