Greipel kicks into gear with stage 4 win in Turkey

André Greipel snapped the losing streak that had plagued him of late with a sprint victory in stage four of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey on Wednesday in Marmaris, Turkey.

Lotto-Soudal’s German sprinter, known as ‘The Gorilla,’ out-kicked Daniele Colli (Nippo-Vini Fantini) at the end of the 132km stage. Daniele Ratto (UnitedHealthcare), finished third, behind his Italian countryman.

“As always it’s nice to win, especially because it didn’t work out in the first two sprints,” Greipel said in a team statement. “I did get my win here after all. The climb in the final was crucial, that made the difference. We got over the top with about 35 riders. It was a really good team effort today, my teammates tried to hang on as well to make the sprint possible for me. With 300 meters to go, I started sprinting and I won.”

A five-man breakaway went clear on a category-three climb that came after 32km of racing. Their gap went over three minutes but the five were eventually brought back by the peloton.

Six riders made the next move: Nicola Boem (Bardiani-CSF), Florian Guillou (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), Mattia Pozzo (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Charles Planet (Novo Nordisk), Kevin Seeldraeyers (Torku Şekerspor), and Natnael Berhane MTN-Qhubeka).

The gap held steady around 2:20 as CCC Sprandi-Polkowice worked to protect race leader Davide Rebellin.

The escapees were caught on a small hill, 11km from the finish, and a counter-attack quickly followed — six riders made the next move, including Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Serge Pauwels (MTN-Qhubeka), who were both in the top-10 overall.

Rebellin’s teammates continued to drive the pace for the peloton, and the sprinters’ teams chipped in as well to catch the move in the final kilometer, setting up the bunch sprint.

The race continues Thursday with a 160km stage from Mugla to Pamukkale. Rebellin kept the leader’s jersey, which he claimed yesterday on stage 3’s summit finish.