Zalongo - Megadendro   

Zalango - Megadondro, nicknamed "the martyrs race", is a race near the north-westcoast of the mainland of Greece, in the province of Epirus. Though the start and finish of this race are quite close to each other, the riders take a little detour to the coastline first and next to some short but challenging hills that will make the difference in most of the editions of this race. Although... one has to be in the front group when...

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Zalango - Megadondro, nicknamed "the martyrs race", is a race near the north-westcoast of the mainland of Greece, in the province of Epirus. Though the start and finish of this race are quite close to each other, the riders take a little detour to the coastline first and next to some short but challenging hills that will make the difference in most of the editions of this race. Although... one has to be in the front group when the wind can split the groups apart in the first part of the race.

The race starts on top of the hill of the "Dance of Zalongo", that memmorates the mass-suicide of the women of Epirus that where trapped in an assault by enemy soldiers in 1803. To avoid enslavement, the women started singing and dancing, closely proceeding to the cliff in front of them. The statures that were raised there form an impressive sight and remember this heroic act.

From this historic ground the riders start descending towards the south first, through the city of Kamarina towards Nea Thesi, which is reached after 15km. Next, the riders will follow the coastline for 25 kilometers, where usually a western crosswind fiercely blows and might lead to interesting situations in the race, breaking the peloton in parts before the challenging final starts. The real final starts at 40km when they face a short but steep climb into Loutsa and start moving landinwards.

The riders will face several hills. First they have to climb 8kms with in it the Chorís Ónoma Climb (4,3km long with an average of 7%). After a short descend a new hill of 10kms to the Markou Mpotsari Climb shows up. Its a bit steeper but like the other hill quite regular, with an average of 7,5%. The riders will arrive on the top of the hill 20kms before the finish. After the descend, the final 5 kilometers contain two very short hills that make that riders with a good punch are absolute favourites to win in Megadondro, where an enthousiastic crowd can be expected near the finishline in front of the Agios Konstantionis, the local church.

Megadondro was the place of birth of the Saint Cosmas of Aetolia, who reformed the Church in Greece and made a case for the poor. An effect of his actions was the change of the holding of the weekly fair from sunday to saturday, which brought economic losses to rich Jewish people in Epirus, barred by their religion from engaging in business on Sabbath. Probably unrelated, Cosmas got accused of being a Russian agent, was seized by Ottoman authorities and was executed in 1779.

So, although the riders will have to struggle their way through crosswinds and ill-paved hills in "the martyrs race", probably they will not be remembered as martyrs, since the real martyrs here will always be the women of Epirus and saint Cosmas of Aetolia.

Route and profile are visualized here: https://ibb.co/C2X6hJJ