Van Garderen second at Turkey tour

Tejay Van Garderen just missed victory in Wednesday’s 207km fourth stage at the Presidential Tour of Turkey and slotted into second overall at 16 seconds back.

The HTC-Columbia rider was part of the winning breakaway that took more than four minutes on the chasing peloton, leaving only four riders with a realistic shot at overall victory.

“I was able to sit on because we had André Greipel behind and he had a good chance of winning the stage if our breakaway was brought back,” Van Garderen said. “But Visconti and his team had a lot of motivation for taking the jersey. I needed to get a couple of seconds from him so I attacked but it didn’t work.

“Visconti is a good sprinter but the race isn’t over,” Van Garderen added. “We still have a really hard day tomorrow, but we’re really motivated and we’ll try to go for the overall win.”

Giovanni Visconti (ISD) won the stage in 5:46:10, just ahead of Van Garderen, with David Moncoutie (Cofidis) crossing the line third. Yukihiro Doi (Skil-Shimano) and Gian-Paolo Cheula (Footon-Servetto), two other members of the breakaway, trailed across at two seconds and five seconds back, respectively.

Visconti won for the second day in a row at the Turkey tour and moved into the overall lead, 16 seconds ahead of rookie Van Garderen. Moncoutie is third overall at 27 seconds back and Cheula is fourth at 48 seconds.

The 46th Presidency Tour of Turkey continues Thursday with the longest stage, a 221km run from Denizli to Fethiye featuring two steep climbs, ideal for another breakaway attempt.

Top-10, Stage 4
1. Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Isd-Neri In 5:46:10
2. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) HTC-Columbia, same time
3. David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne, s.t.
4. Yukihiro Doi (Jpn) Skil-Shimano, at 0:02
5. Giampaolo Cheula (Ita) Footon-Servetto-Fuji, at 0:05
6. Cristiano Salerno (Ita), at 0:33
7. Oscar Gatto (Ita) Isd-Neri, at 2:46
8. André Greipel (Ger) Htc-Columbia, at 4:28
9. Mattia Gavazzi (Ita) Csf Group-Navigare, at 4:28
10. Manuel Belletti (Ita) Csf Group-Navigare, at 4:28

Overall, after four stages
1. Giovanni Visconti (Italy) Isd-Neri in 14:57:48
2. Tejay Van Garderen (United States) HTC-Columbia, at 0:16
3. David Moncoutie (France) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne, at 0:27
4. Giampaolo Cheula (Italy) Footon – Servetto – Fuji, at 0:48
5. Cristiano Salerno (Italy), at 1:42
6. Yukihiro Doi (Japan) Skil-Shimano, at 2:46
7. Oscar Gatto (Italy) Isd-Neri, at 3:45
8. André Greipel (Germany) HTC-Columbia, at 4:43
9. Rémi Pauriol (France) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne, at 4:59
10. Dominique Cornu (Belgium) Skil-Shimano, at 5:03