Greipel wins his fourth in Tour of Turkey, Visconti pads his lead over Van Garderen
Greipel won his fourth stage in six days at the Turkey tour, out-kicking Italians Davide Cimolai (Liquigas) and Manuel Belletti (CSF) to snatch the sprint victory after a wild finale in the 194km stage from Fethiye to Finike. American Tejay Van Garderen finished seven seconds back, but remains second overall, now 23 seconds in arrears
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André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) won yet again at the Tour of Turkey while Giovanni Visconti (ISD) gained a few more seconds on second-place Tejay Van Garderen.
Greipel won his fourth stage in six days at the Turkey tour, out-kicking Italians Davide Cimolai (Liquigas) and Manuel Belletti (CSF) to snatch the sprint victory after a wild finale in the 194km stage from Fethiye to Finike.
Greipel’s 10th win on the year comes thanks to excellent work from HTC-Columbia, including second-place rider Van Garderen, who buried themselves to reel in two attackers. Christophe Kern (Cofidis) and Frederik Wimann (Skil-Shimano) were caught only in the final kilometer and Greipel came from well back of the bunch to claim the win.
Race leader Visconti tried in vain with a late attack of his own, but his effort paid off by causing the bunch to split. Van Garderen finished seven seconds back, but remains second overall, now 23 seconds in arrears. David Moncoutie (Cofidis) remains third at 27 seconds back.
“To be honest I didn’t think that today was going to end in a sprint, it was so hilly in the first part of the stage, and then the roads were really undulating in the last part along the coast,” said HTC-Columbia sports director Jan Schaffrath. “Finally, though, we managed to bring the break back in the nick of time. The whole team, particularly the younger riders, did an exceptionally good job today.
“The guys stayed together with Tejay, our overall contender, on the final climb, with Gert Dockx riding very hard indeed, and then after we got over the top with about 35 guys in the front group, we started to set things up for André,” added Schaffrath. “Getting that break back was a little bit like a game of poker. It was complicated to calculate because there were so many little climbs. But we got it right and André’s got his fourth stage and tenth win of the season. He’s having a great week of racing here.”
The 46th International Presidency Turkey Tour continues Saturday with the short, but potentially explosive 114km stage from Finike to Antalaya.