After yesterday’s shortest stage, the peloton had to face the longest stage of this year’s edition of the Tour of Turkey today. 194km on a demanding course with an uphill finish at a maximum gradient of 6% in the city of Bursa awaited the riders. Like yesterday, the wind played its part in the race and echelons formed from time to time. As in the previous days, a small group of Continental riders broke clear from the bunch and built the day’s break with a gap of around seven minutes, while BORA – hansgrohe led the peloton for their overall race leader Sam Bennett. Especially Lukas Pöstlberger pulled a lot in the bunch to catch the leaders with 15km remaining. Michael Schwarzmann and Shane Archbold brought their two teammates into a good position before the final ascent up to the finish. On the last two kilometres several riders tried to attack, but the bunch didn’t allow anybody to escape before coming on to the home straight. J. Lobato tried to surprise the favorites with 300 meters to go. Sam was positioned well but couldn’t close the gap on the last metres. He had to settle for third today behind C. Ewan and Lobato, but extended his lead in the General and the Points Classification. Still in second sits Felix Großschartner, who seems to be one of the favorites for tomorrow’s queen stage.
Results
01 C. Ewan 5:21:38
02 J.J. Lobato +0:00
03 S. Bennett +0:00
From the Finish Line
“I really didn’t know what to expect today, a lot of guys were ready for a sprint and it was a tough finale at the end. I knew Caleb was sitting on my wheel, but I was already on the limit. I wanted him to go first but when he moved, I was on a big gear and struggled to follow him. Anyway, I think Caleb was the fastest today and I say congrats. It was pretty cold today, maybe that affected me a little, but I will try again to win another stage here in Turkey.” – Sam Bennett
“The race was always under control from all the sprinter teams. We knew, that many riders will arrive, not like the days before but still, therefore we protected Sam for the finale. At the end he was in a good position, maybe he just waited some seconds too long but in a sprint like that many things happen at the same time, it’s hard to keep the overview. Therefore, I think we don’t have to be disappointed with a third place. In the GC we were able to extend our lead and with Felix in second position, we are in a comfortable position for tomorrow. Sam also wears the sprint jersey, and now we are looking forward to tomorrow’s queen stage.” – André Schulze, Sports Director
