It is not surprising that Greece is not a superpower at cycling events. Greece has not the tradition of Spain and Italy. The bicycle is and was not very popular in Greece. Still it’s pretty surprising that there was a Greek gold medal winner at the first Olympic Games in 1896 (if you know how poor Greece was after the independence war and other wars and after 400 years of occupation). Αριστειδης Κωνσταντινιδης was the first gold medal winner ever at an cycling event at the Olympic games.