photo credit @ Lotto -Soudal
André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) claimed stage 3 of this year’s Tour of Turkey today, marking the German powerhouse’s first victory of the season.
Greipel won today’s stage, after beating Daniele Colli (Nippo – Vini Fantini) and Daniele Ratto (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling), in a hotly contested sprint finish in Marmaris.
Meanwhile, Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) retained his seven-second overall lead ahead of Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida) despite a late attack during the final climb of the race, that at one point, appeared to put their respective positions in jeopardy.
Race Highlights
The day’s early breakaway group containing Nicola Boem (Bardiani CSF), Florian Guillou (Bretagne-Séché Environnement), Mattia Pozzo (Nippo – Vini Fantini), Charles Planet (Team Novo Nordisk), Kevin Seeldraeyers (Torku Sekerspor) and Natnael Berhane (MTN – Qhubeka), enjoyed their time out front for a majority of today’s stage.
However, as the race reached the approach of the final climb, the escapee’s three minute advantage over the peloton began to drop dramatically.
Pozzo was the first escapee to be reabsorbed by the peloton, before the rest of his breakaway companions were caught just before the summit.
From there, a flurry of attacks ensued from within the peloton, later allowing Valerio Agnoli (Astana), Luis Mas Bonet (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Carlos Julian Quintero (Colombia), Jay Mccarthy (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Serge Pauwels (MTN – Qhubeka), to ride clear.
As the escapees approached the finishing town of Marmaris, what slight advantage they were holding over the chase, began to diminish rapidly, as Lotto and Orica-GreenEdege began to close down on them.
Once the field was back together, Lotto began systematically moving Greipel into place. And, while other riders continued to expel valuable energy vying for the lead, the German sprinter kept his cool, while he strategically made his way through the chaos to seize the win.
Stage 4 Results GER 1 GREIPEL, André (LOTTO SOUDAL) 3:22:08 ITA 2 COLLI, Daniele (NIPPO – VINI FANTINI) ITA 3 RATTO, Daniele (UNITEDHEALTHCARE) DEN 4 NIELSEN, Magnus Cort (ORICA GreenEDGE) ITA 5 BELLETTI, Manuel (SOUTHEAST) ITA 6 FERRARI, Roberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) ESP 7 BARBERO CUESTA, Carlos (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) ITA 8 SBARAGLI, Kristian (MTN – QHUBEKA) ITA 9 BENNATI, Daniele (TINKOFF – SAXO) TUR 10 ORKEN, Ahmet (TORKU SEKERSPOR)
General Classification after Stage 4 ITA 1 REBELLIN, Davide (CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE) 15:35:49
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