A Greek reaches Roubaix

Ioannis Tamouridis on Sunday became the first Greek rider to finish the Paris-Roubaix as he reached the hallowed velodrome in 60th place.

The national time trial champion put on a more than decent showing to complete the race in his first try. Joining Tamouridis in crossing the line in the 'Hell of the North' was Ricardo García.

The native of Vitoria came across the line inside a small group approximately 20 minutes down to ensure the team got two riders to the finish.

The Euskaltel rider that looked to be going the strongest, though, didn't have luck on his side. Juan José Oroz looked to be cruising inside the lead group when a rider crashed in front of him on a bend and took with him the veteran. Oroz escaped relatively unscathed, but did never manage to catch back on and ended up abandoning the race.

On a day that was relatively successful for the team considering the riders' lack of pedigree on the cobbles, the race will eventually be remembered for the day Euskaltel lined up with seven instead of eight riders due to Alexander Serebryakov's positive doping test announced on Saturday.

Results (full results here):

• (1, Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack), 5:45:33)
• 60, Ioannis Tamouridis, 10:27
• 100, Ricardo García, 20:37

Photo: Euskaltel Euskadi