photo credits @ Tour of Turkey
Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) racked up a second stage victory in the Tour of Turkey today, after claiming stage 7 in a sprint finish ahead of Manuel Belletti (Southeast) and Marco Zanetti.
Meanwhile, José Gonçalves retained his lead in the overall race, ahead of tomorrow’s final stage in Selçuk.
“The profile of the course was not flat, we covered some climbs: they were not demanding as yesterday ones, however they could have been selective – Modolo explained – Yesterday I had good feelings while climbing, the sports directors told me that I must focus my attention on the top result because I had a good condition and so I did.
“During the race, my legs were great and, thanks to the support of my team mates, I did not spend energies in the approach of the climbs. I could reach the summit of the last hill, at 8 km to the arrival, with still many energies which allowed me to make a very fast sprint. I began my progression in the right moment, I did not make mistake as I had done in the 4th stage, when I started too early. I’m happy for the victory and I’m satisfied in view of the Giro d’Italia“, Modolo added.
Race Highlights
It wasn’t until 25 kilometers of racing got underway, that the day’s first breakaway group containing Leszek Plucinski (CCC), David Belda (Roth), Pawel Cieslik (Verva), Florian Gaugl (Hrinkow) and Bram Nolten (Parkhotel), took shape.
From there, the group went on to establish a maximum advantage of 4:20 over the peloton.
However, the escapees were eventually reined by the peloton during the final 16 kilometers, under the auspices of the Italian continental team Unieuro.
Not long after, Caja-Rural-RGA’s Lluis Mas attacked, but a strong head-wind ultimately forced the Spanish rider back into the fold.
“Last year I attacked towards the top of the last climb before the downhill to Marmaris”, the punchy Spanish rider explained. “I remembered it was a great feeling so I tried again 1km before the summit with the idea of going for the stage win after the other tasks of the day were already completed. We had delivered José Gonçalves to the final part of the stage with no worries.”
Next, came an attack from Greg Henderson (Lotto-Soudal) along the descent during the final 5 kilometers. But, just as his predecessor, he too was quickly reclaimed by a charging peloton.
With the peloton now back together, riders began vying for position during the final run-in to the finish, with Modolo emerging as the strongest sprinter.
Stage 7 Results ITA 1 MODOLO, Sacha (LAMPRE – MERIDA) 3:15:14 ITA 2 BELLETTI, Manuel (SOUTHEAST – VENEZUELA) ITA 3 ZANOTTI, Marco (PARKHOTEL VALKENBURG) POL 4 STEPNIAK, Grzegorz (CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE) ITA 5 COLLI, Daniele (NIPPO – VINI FANTINI) ITA 6 CECCHIN, Alberto (TEAM ROTH) TUR 7 ORKEN, Ahmet (TORKU SEKERSPOR) BEL 8 BOECKMANS, Kris (LOTTO SOUDAL) ITA 9 FERRARI, Roberto (LAMPRE – MERIDA) 10 ANDRÉ MACIEL GONÇALVES Domingos (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) FRA 11 LABORIE, Christophe (DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM) KAZ 12 AKHMETOV, Galym (ASTANA CITY) ROU 13 GROSU, Eduard Michael (NIPPO – VINI FANTINI) ITA 14 FINETTO, Mauro (UNIEURO WILIER) ITA 15 BERTAZZO, Liam (SOUTHEAST – VENEZUELA) LAT 16 RACENAJS, Kristofers (ALPHA BALTIC – MARATONI.LV) POR 17 GONÇALVES, José (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 4 FRA 18 PACHER, Quentin (DELKO MARSEILLE PROVENCE KTM) CZE 19 HNIK, Karel (VERVA ACTIVEJET PRO CYCLING TEAM) BUL 20 MIHAYLOV, Nikolay (CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE)
General Classification after Stage 7 POR 1 GONÇALVES, José (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) 26:45:15 ESP 2 ARROYO DURAN, David (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 18 KAZ 3 STALNOV, Nikita (ASTANA CITY) + 46 ESP 4 MAS BONET, Luis (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 2:13 AUS 5 HANSEN, Adam (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 4:21 NZL 6 HENDERSON, Greg (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 6:46 BEL 7 BROECKX, Stig (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 9:22 BEL 8 DOCKX, Gert (LOTTO SOUDAL) + 12:46 ESP 9 ROSON GARCIA, Jaime (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) + 12:58 ITA 10 FINETTO, Mauro (UNIEURO WILIER) + 13:04
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