photo credit @ Tour of Turkey
Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) claimed stage 3 of this year’s Tour of Turkey today, after beating Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida) in a mountain finish atop Emali.
With 100 meters to go, the Italian rider launched a winning move that left his Lampre rival unable to counter.
Meanwhile, Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne-Séché Environnement) rounded out the podium in 3rd place, finishing almost a minute behind Rebellin.
As result of today’s victory, Rebellin wrested the leader’s jersey from Mark Cavendish, and now leads Durasek by 7 seconds in the overall classification.
Race Highlights
A small breakaway group containing Marco Bandiera (Androni Giocattoli), José Gonçalves (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Juan Pablo Valencia (Colombia), Samuel Spokes (Drapac) and Songezo Jim (MTN-Qhubeka), got underway early on in today’s stage, with the quintet steadily building up an advantage of 3 minutes over the peloton.
Shortly thereafter, the escapees were joined by Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep), Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff-Saxo), Thomas De Gendt, Gert Dockx (Lotto-Soudal), Nicola Boem (Bardiani-CSF), Youcef Reguigui (MTN-Qhubeka) and Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise).
However, Boonen’s reluctance to participant in the pace-setting, for the sake of protecting his teammate and race leader Mark Cavendish’s interests, saw the breakaway group eventually whittle itself down to just 3 riders.
As the race entered the final 30 kilometers, Brutt, Wallays and Reguiui were holding onto a modest 30 second gap over the chase.
From there, CCC Sprandi Polkowice began moving to the front, along with Astana and Caja Rural’s Luis Mas Bonet, who was the first rider to make a serious attempt to ride clear, with a couple of powerful attacks.
With a peloton now reduced to just 20 riders, the lingering breakaway trio was eventually caught, with Heiner Rodrigo Parra Bustamente (Caja Rural) as the next rider to attempt to break clear.
Rebellin took no chances, and matched Parra Bustamente’s two attacks, the second of which resulted in the two riders creating a slight 10 second gap. Durasek then decided to try his luck too, quickly bridging himself to the two leaders.
From there, the trio quickly established a 30 second lead over the chase group. However, Bustamente’s presence out front was short-lived, as the Colombian rider was unable to stay onboard with his breakaway companions.
At one point, Rebellin appeared to be tiring during the waning minutes of today’s stage. However, the Italian rider was merely conserving his energy, as he clung to Durasek’s rear wheel during the final 2 kilometers.
Indeed, after responding to Durasek’s accelerations inside the final kilometer, Rebellin launched a move of his own during the final 100 meters to deny the Lampre rider the victory.
photo credit @ Twitter
Stage 3 Results ITA 1 REBELLIN, Davide (CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE) 4:34:11 CRO 2 DURASEK, Kristijan (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 7 ARG 3 SEPULVEDA, Eduardo (BRETAGNE-SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 50 AUS 4 MCCARTHY, Jay (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 1:20 BEL 5 PAUWELS, Serge (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 1:23 ITA 6 BARBIN, Enrico (BARDIANI CSF) + 1:29 COL 7 PARRA BUSTAMENTE, Heiner Rodrigo (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 1:32 ITA 8 RATTO, Daniele (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) + 1:42 COL 9 CANO ARDILA, Alex (COLOMBIA) + 1:46 AUS 10 HANSEN, Adam (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 1:57
General Classification after Stage 3 ITA 1 REBELLIN, Davide (CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE) 12:13:41 CRO 2 DURASEK, Kristijan (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 7 ARG 3 SEPULVEDA, Eduardo (BRETAGNE-SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 50 AUS 4 MCCARTHY, Jay (TINKOFF – SAXO) + 1:20 BEL 5 PAUWELS, Serge (MTN – QHUBEKA) + 1:23 ITA 6 BARBIN, Enrico (BARDIANI CSF) + 1:29 COL 7 PARRA BUSTAMENTE, Heiner Rodrigo (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 1:32 ITA 8 RATTO, Daniele (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) + 1:42 COL 9 CANO ARDILA, Alex (COLOMBIA) + 1:46 AUS 10 HANSEN, Adam (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 1:57
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