Tour of Turkey 2016 Stage 6

photo credits @ Tour of Turkey

Caja-Rural’s Jaime Roson claimed the “Queen” stage of the Tour of Turkey today, after outsprinting stage one winner Przemyslaw Niemiec  (Lampre-Merida) in a grueling uphill finish atop the climb of Göğübeli.

Meanwhile, race leader Pello Bilbao fell sick on the eve of the queen stage, passing the overall race leadership to his teammate José Gonçalves.

“I was close to winning the queen stage at the Vuelta Castilla y Leon but Alejandro Valverde brought me back with 400 meters to go. I didn’t feel good all day today after I worked a lot for the team during the previous days but I felt much better towards the end. Even though Niemiec caught me, I still had enough energy to beat him. It’s also thanks to our strategy. We had planned to have someone in the early break to force CCC to chase so we could remain quietly in the peloton before the final climb.”

Race Highlights

The peloton remained intact for most of today’s stage, until the final climb, where a breakaway group containing Eduard Michael Grosu (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida), Stig Broeckx (Lotto-Soudal), Antonio Piedra (Funvic-Soul), Antonio Viola (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Nicolas Baldo (Roth), Galym Akhmetov (Astana City), Peter Schulting (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Nazim Bakirci (Torku), Enrico Salvador (Unieuro) and Gonçalves, got underway after the Nippo-Vini Fantini initiated an attack during the first final 14 kilometers.

Schulting, Broeckx and Bakirci later jettisoned their breakaway companions during the first category climb, only to be quickly joined again by Baldo and Piedra.

However, their timeout front was quickly brought to an end with 30 kilometers remaining.

From there, an attack led by Dominik Hrinkow (Hrinkow Advarics) and Simone Petilli (Lampre-Merida) ensued, which formed into a lead quartet containing Liam Bertazzo (Southeast) and Daniele Colli (Nippo-Vini Fantini).

A final attack would later come from Petilli, who forged on alone during the final 10 kilometers. But, with 6 kilometers to go, the Lampre rider was eventually reined in by the chase just before the summit.

With 2 kilometers to go, Koshevoy surged, taking Roson and Jan Hirt (CCC) along with him.

Rosen then set-off in a solo effort, while Niemiec gradually made his way to the Caja Rural rider during the final kilometer.

However, Roson proved to be the stronger of the two, as the young Spanish rider managed to “crack” Niemiec along the final uphill section. 

“I thought he would be more tired than he effectively was”, Niemiec commented. “What a pity. I accelerated at the right moment. I fought till the end but I couldn’t get the stage win. However, I’m happy to lead the mountains classification. It shows that I’m climbing well and the preparation for the Giro has gone well. I’m satisfied with my results at the TUR so far: a stage win, a second place, a fourth one. After an early part of the season that was so so, I’m in a great shape now.”

Gonçalves leads his teammate David Arroyo by 18 seconds in the overall classification, followed by Nikita Stalnov (Astana City) who sits in third place at 46 seconds back.

Top 20 Finishers

1 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 3:22:16
2 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre – Merida 0:00:02
3 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team 0:00:12
4 Ilia Koshevoy (Blr) Lampre – Merida 0:00:16
5 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:19
6 José Gonçalves (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:30
7 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:00:38
8 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:40
9 David Arroyo (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
10 Sylwester Szmyd (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:51
11 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana City 0:00:59
12 Ricardo Vilela (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:01
13 Jasper Ockeloen (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:01:24
14 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
15 Mateusz Taciak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:01:32
16 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:34
17 Karel Hnik (Cze) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team 0:01:43
18 Stig Broeckx (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:56
19 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Unieuro Wilier
20 Fatih Keles (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:02:10

General classification after stage 6

1 José Gonçalves (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 23:29:57
2 David Arroyo (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:18
3 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana City 0:00:46
4 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:02:13
5 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:04:21
6 Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Soudal 0:06:46
7 Stig Broeckx (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:09:22
8 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:12:14
9 Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:12:46
10 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:12:58
11 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:13:08
12 Ricardo Vilela (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:13:34
13 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:13:57
14 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:15:22
15 Jasper Ockeloen (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:16:06
16 Karel Hnik (Cze) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team 0:16:25
17 Jochem Hoekstra (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:19:28
18 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team 0:20:27
19 Mateusz Taciak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:22:07
20 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre – Merida 0:23:13