The Portuguese rider José Gonçalves (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) has won the 52nd Presidential Tour of Turkey. At the end of Stage 8, the Spor Toto Marmaris - Selçuk Stage (201.7 km), Gonçalves finished safely in the main group, retaining the race lead he took on Stage 6 on the uphill finish at Elmalı.
The stage was won by Jakub Marecko (Southeast – Venezuela), ahead of Sacha Modolo (Lampre – Merida), 2nd, and Francisco Chamorro (Funic Soul Cycles - Carrefour), 3rd. It was Marecko's second stage win of the week. His Southeast – Venezuela team also celebrated victory in the Salcano Green Jersey sprints competition, won by Manuel Belletti.
Caja Rural – Seguros RGA completed a successful campaign which saw them take two stage wins, lead the race for five days, and win the Vestel White Jersey (Beauties of Turkey Sprints) with Lluís Mas for the second year running.
In addition to their three stage wins, Lampre – Merida celebrated victory in the Turkish Airlines Red Jersey Mountains competition through Przemysław Niemiec, the winner of stage one and the race leader for two days.
The Final Jerseys
SporToto Turquoise Jersey (Race leader): José Gonçalves (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA)
Turkish Airlines Red Jersey (Mountains): Przemysław Niemiec (Lampre – Merida)
Vestel White Jersey (Beauties of Turkey Sprints): Lluís Mas (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA)
Salcano Green Jersey (Sprints): Manuel Belletti (Southeast - Venezuela)
To download full official results, please click here.
(Photo credit: Tour of Turkey/Brian Hodes)
Stage 8 result
1. Jakub Marecko (Southeast – Venezuela), 201.7 km in 5h46' , ave.
2. Sacha Modolo (Lampre - Merida) in s.t.
3. Francisco Chamorro (Funic Soul Cycles - Carrefour) in s.t.
Final GC standings
1. José Gonçalves (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA)
2. David Arroyo (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) @ 18"
3. Nikita Stalnov (Astana City) at 56"
(Photo credit: Tour of Turkey/Brian Hodes)
RIDER COMMENTS:
Stage winner Jakub Marecko (Southeast – Venezuela): It is a great satisfaction to win a second stage in the Tour of Turkey, especially as it wasn't a flat stage. The big challenge for me today, setting out this morning, was to resist in the climb. My team mates helped me not to get dropped, and I managed to be there at the finish for the sprint. The first climbs were crucial. The breakaway went, which was good for us, and then on the longest climb, at the beginning, we decided to ride at the front as a team so I could stay in the first positions and not get dropped. That's what we did in all the climbs, including the last one, close to the finish. What I did today gives me good hope for my future, because I'm a good sprinter but I have to improve my climbing so that I can be there for the sprint. In the closing section I followed my team mates Zhupa, Bertazzo and Belletti, who led me out into the final 300m. Then I took Modolo's wheel and I managed to get past him. That's how I won it. My conclusion of the TUR is positive. This has been excellent preparation for the Dutch stages of the Giro d'italia, and we'll see if I can get a good placing in one of the first few stages.
SporToto Turquoise Jersey (Race leader): José Gonçalves (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) "I'm very happy. Tonight we'll celebrate together as a team, with champagne in the hotel, and then sleep. Tomorrow, I fly home to Barcelos, above Porto in the north of Portugal. My next race is the Beiras e Serra da Estrela on 13 May. It is a little frustrating not to be able to take this good form to the Giro. The team tried to get a place there but it was not possible, so we have the Vuelta as the main objective of the team, and we will go there trying to win a stage, like last year.
"I didn't come here with the objective of winning, but I knew I'd be OK. Day by day the situation evolved. My success came as a surprise to me because of the hard, windy 2nd and 3rd stages. Without those two stages, I dodn't know how it would have been, because in the mountains we have good riders. Perhaps I'd have been with them, but I don't know. The thing is, I'm not a real climber. If you put me on a hard, 20 km mountain, I'll get dropped. The final mountain stage here wasn't so hard. I consider myself a complete rider who can do a bit of everything. I'm not a sprinter either, but I do OK. I think I have potential, but I have a different role from a rider like Rui Costa. We are very different. Rui has more potential than me. He's a great rider, even if my idol is Alberto Contador, who is combative and always attacking. From now on I'll try and get the responsibility as team leader. I tried at Tirreno -Adriatico, but things didn't turn out as I wanted. I wasn't at 100%. But in the coming races, I'll try to be good, and at the Vuelta a Espana, I expect to have joint leadership with Pello Bilbao. This very is very important to me. I have the ambition of riding in the WorldTour. I'd like to ride for a WorldTour team. This win gives me the confidence to continue working, and we'll see what happens. If it all goes according to plan, perhaps I'll be able to make that final jump next season."
Third placed Francisco Chamorro (Funvic-Soul): “This is our first year racing on the European scene, so I believe third here is a good result for us as we got the opportunity to race against World Tour riders who are going to compete in the Giro d’Italia next week. We’re very happy with our participation to the Tour of Turkey, especially because we’ve been very unlucky right at the beginning of the race. We lost five riders in a crash and only four of us managed to complete the TUR. In these circumstances, to make the podium on the last day is a great satisfaction. Brazil is a bit far for coming to Europe for one race. It would be better to come for two stage races so we’d perform in the second one. Next year we’ll have a bigger European calendar and we’ll be more competitive.”
(Photo credit: Tour of Turkey/Brian Hodes)
Vestel White Jersey (Beauties of Turkey Sprints) Lluís Mas (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA): “It’s been all nice today, the weather, the results, the atmosphere… We were happy with the breakaway that took shape. In our quest for GC, it was fine for us if they made it to the finish. But with 40km to go, Lampre-Merida stopped pulling. They said we could let the breakaway five minutes ahead and catch them up later, so other teams went to the front. My only concern was to stay with José [Gonçalves]. The race situation was perfect at the Beauties of Turkey point because the riders in the lead were no threat for my jersey so I win it for the second straight year. We came to Turkey with the aim of winning GC, either with Pello Bilbao or José but we would have never thought we could win the two hardest stages, come first, second and fourth overall, win another classification like the Beauties of Turkey. For the second time, we get a big success in Turkey. We’re happy as a team.”
Turkish Airlines Red Jersey winner Przemysław Niemiec (Lampre – Merida) leads
Vestel White Jersey winner Lluís Mas
(Photo credit: Tour of Turkey/Brian Hodes)
How it happened
The peloton rolled out on time at 10:45 a.m. and sped into the pine forests on the hillsides around Marmaris.
The peloton split itnto three groups. 2 riders, 4 Ilia Koshevoy (LAM) and 132 Jochem Hoeckstra (PVC), established a small lead. But all together at 11.02. Four minutes later, two riders opened a small advantage: 37 Jan Hirt (CCC) and 81 Nicolas Baldo (ROT).
A further three riders darted out of the bunch to give chase, but the main group reacted and reabsorbed them.
At 11.10 a.m. the advantage of the two leaders was 35”.
They were soon joined by two more riders: 144 Muhammet Atalay (TRK) and 154 Alessandro Malaguti (UNI). At km 25 the four led by 2'36”. By km 26 their lead was timed at 3'. Southeast – Venezuela led the bunch.
Behind them, rider 93, Adrian Banaszek (VAT) abandoned the race.
Approaching the categorised climb at km 35.5, the four leaders had an advantage of 3'50”.
Before the first GPM, rider 125 Raphael Hammerschmid abandoned.
32 km completed in the first hilly hour of racing.
Mountain Classification: km 35.5 (Cat 1)
1. (10 pts) 144 Muhammet Atalay (TRK)
2. (7 pts) 37 Jan Hirt (CCC)
3. (5 pts) 154 Alessandro Malaguti (UNI)
4. (3 pts) 81 Nicolas Baldo (ROT)
5. (1 pts) 141 Nazim Bakırcı (TRK)
With only 3 points left in the King of the Mountains competition, Przemysław Niemiec (Lampre – Merida) had only to complete the stage to win the Turkish Airlines Red Jersey.
At that point, the advantage of the four leaders was 2'30”.
km 51 completed at 12.24 a.m.
Approaching the Intermediate sprint at km 53.7, the advantage of the four leaders was 2'55”.
Intermediate sprint (km 53.7)
1. (5 pts) 154 Alessandro Malaguti (UNI)
2. (3 pts) 37 Jan Hirt (CCC)
3. (1 pts) 81 Nicolas Baldo (ROT)
The leading group completed 98km in the first three hours. At km 100, approximately the halfway point in the stage, the advantage was 2'30”, increasing to 2'47 on the approach to the intermediate sprint at km 114.5.
Intermediate sprint (km 114.5)
1. (5 pts) 37 Jan Hirt (CCC)
2. (3 pts) 154 Alessandro Malaguti (UNI)
3. (1 pts) 144 Muhammet Atalay (TRK)
That left a total of 15 sprint points available in the race, all on the finish line in Selçuk. Eight riders have a mathematical chance of taking the jersey.
The peloton completed 35km in the fourth hour of racing.
At km 145.5 (56.2 km to go), the peloton passed through Aydin, close to the ancient site of Tralleis, home of Apollonius of Tralles, a 2nd-century BCE Greek sculptor who, his brother Tauriscus, executed the largest single sculpture ever recovered from antiquity to date, the marble group known as the Farnese Bull, representing Zethus and Amphion tying the revengeful Dirce to the tail of a wild bull. 250 years later, another local, Anthemius of Tralles (c. 474 – before 558), a Greek Geometry professor and architect who collaborated with Isidore of Miletus to build the church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
Beauties of Turkey sprint (km 151.1)
1. (5 pts) 144 Muhammet Atalay (TRK)
2. (3 pts) 154 Alessandro Malaguti (UNI)
3. (1 pts) 81 Nicolas Baldo (ROT)
The final Beauties of Turkey sprint of the race left Vestel White Jersey wearer Lluís Mas (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) mathematically insuperable in that competition. He had won the title for the second year running.
With 43 km to go, with the advantage of the breakaway at 3'34”, Astana City sent two riders to help Caja Rural at the front of the peloton.
With 41.6 km to go, 154 Alessandro Malaguti (UNI) launched an attack which unhitched 81 Nicolas Baldo (ROT) from the leading group, leaving only Malaguti, Hirt and Atalay at the head of the race. Those three persisted at a blistering pace, raising their advantage to 4' with 38.8 km to go.
The advantage:
4'30” with 37 km to go.
4'40” with 35.9 km to go.
With 33.3 km to go, Baldo was reabsorbed by the main bunch.
The advantage:
5'00” with 32.3 km to go.
5'40” with 30.2 km to go.
5'50” with 29.6 km to go.
5'51” with 28.9 km to go (maximum lead).
The leaders completed 39 km in the 5th hour of racing. With a lead of nearly six minutes inside the final 30km, they had cause to believe that it might just be possible to beat the peloton.
However, with 27.9 km to go, things took a turn for the worse when Lotto Soudal showed an interest in chasing. Frederik Frison appeared at the front of the peloton, and galvanised the front of the group into a ball formation, and the advantage of the leaders began diminished rapidly.
The advantage:
5'30 with 26.7 km to go.
5'10” with 26.1 km to go.
5'00 with 25.2 km to go.
4'50” with 24.7 km to go.
4'40” with 24.3 km to go.
4'30” with 24.0 km to go.
At this point, the breakaway riders had lost one minute lost in 2.7 km, equating to 5 minutes lost in 13.5 km. In other words, the breakaway, at this rate, was doomed. And the peloton only increased the rate of the catch.
4'00” with 22.9 km to go.
3'30” with 21.9 km to go.
The peloton was now gaining on the breakaway riders at a rate of 30” per kilometre. A slight climb slowed the big men at the front of the peloton momentarily, but still the gap closed vertiginously:
2'30” with 19.3 km to go.
2'00” with 17.8 km to go.
1'30” with 16.9 km to go.
1'00” with 15.4 km to go.
On the climb with 15 km to go, Przemysław Niemiec (LAM) moved to the front to contribute to the chase, with Koshevoy close behind.
30” with 13.5 km to go.
With 13.7 km to go, and the pelton within 30” of the three remaining breakaway riders, Malaguti and Hirt dropped Atalay, hoping at least to make it to the Cat. 3 GPM at km 190.8.
Atalay was caught within seconds, as Durasek and Niemiec led the bunch, working for Lampre – Merida and their sprinter Sacha Modolo.
11.9 km to go, Malaguti and Hirt shook hands and gave up. At that moment, a huge attack by two riders, Quentin Pacher (DMP) and Karel Hnik (VAC), exploded out of the peloton.
Mountain Classification (km 190.8)
1. (3 pts) 42 Quentin Pacher (DMP)
2. (2 pts) 95 Karel Hnik (VAC)
3. (1 pts) 158 Mauro Finetto (UNI)
Five Lotto Soudal riders led the bunch up to, and past, those three, temporarily splitting the peloton into two groups.
After km 192.5 (with 9.2 km to go), the pelotn sped like an express train past the Çamlık Railway Museum, the largest in Turkey with one of the largest steam locomotive collections in Europe, on tracks laid in 1866.
With 8.7 km to go, Domink Hrinkow (HAC) attacked, but made little headaway as Gert Dockx (TLS) led the peloton.
With 7.9 km to go, 141 Nazim Bakirci (TRK) and 42 Quentin Pachon (DMP, again) attacked, chased by 157 Giovanni Carboni (UNI) and 61 Daniele Colli (NIP). Those four built up small lead, as the Lotto Soudal riders led the chase.
Carboni persisted in his attack, but the group finished together and, in the sprint, Jakub Mareczko (STH) came off Sacha Modolo (LAM)'s wheel to take the win, with Modolo 2nd and Chamorro (FSC) 3rd.
On behalf of the organisation of the Presidential Tour of Turkey, we would like to thank you for your coverage of this year's event, and we very much look forward to welcoming you back to Turkey a year from now foer the 53rd edition of our beautiful and historic race.
For live updates, please follow us on Twitter at @tourofturkeyTUR (#TUR2016).