Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey 2024, 21st to 28th April

[Hugh Januss]

Age?

Cav is just here to work on timelimit management. Practicing for TDF.

 

[Rob5091]

All good things must come to an end and Sunday's stage 8 is the final one for this year.
From Istanbul to Istanbul 105.4 km, start at 10.01 CET , TV from 10.00 CET

Laps aplenty but the finish has a nasty little surprise for the sprinters in the last km -

Back in 2022 they only managed 25 km of the final stage before giving up due to rain, wind and slippery roads.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Rain on the forecast again
Should stop sometime during the morning, though

 

[kingjr]

Rain on the forecast again
Should stop sometime during the morning, though

Nope, neutralized.

 

[RedheadDane]

Meanwhile...

Theft in Türkiye: Team Caja Rural-RGA woke up for the last stage with a team car completely looted, having taken all the tools, wheels and spare bags of all the cyclists.

 

[Rob5091]

Déjà vu all over again! Back to 2022 and ... rain.
"The riders will ride to the finish line and complete one lap of the course at race speed but no-one will lose any time or points."
Feel sorry for the TV commentators.

Hope Caja have a good insurance for all their stolen stuff.

Chapeau though for DSM & Van den Broek who have pulled off a good win & a mentioned in dispatches for Terengganu for getting 2 guys in the GC top 4. Be interesting to see how Andresen and Jakobsen get on at the Giro but there'll be tougher opposition.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Update: All classifications after stage 7 will be the final results. The prize money of stage 8 will be donated to charity

Damn, what did the riders do to deserve this.

 

[RedheadDane]

Update: All classifications after stage 7 will be the final results. The prize money of stage 8 will be donated to charity

Damn, what did the riders do to deserve this.

Deserve what? I think they might have been part of the decision to neutralise the stage.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Update: All classifications after stage 7 will be the final results. The prize money of stage 8 will be donated to charity

Damn, what did the riders do to deserve this.

Well, since we've seen races neutralised any time it gets a bit cold or wet ever since Adam Hansen got up one day in Italy and didn't fancy it, what's wrong with the money the riders wouldn't have done the racing to earn being instead donated to a good cause? It's not like the riders are suddenly not going to be paid, they still get their salaries, it's just that the prize money for the day is no longer available because nobody's going to be doing any of the racing that it's meant to reward. At least the money gets put to good use.

 

[RedheadDane]

Well, since we've seen races neutralised any time it gets a bit cold or wet

LOL!

 

[Rob5091]

Sponsors will obviously not be so happy, but at least some good will be done if a charity gets some extra funding.

Then again if this was Belgium ....

 

[RedheadDane]

Just to be clear; whoever wins the stage still gets the prize money for that? Or have they agreed that all the prize money should go to charity?

And before anyone says they won't compete for the stage:

Update: The riders will ride to the finish line and complete one lap of the course at race speed but no-one will lose any time or points.

And now we got a split...

 

[Rob5091]

Nobody will technically win the stage so I believe all prize money goes to charity. They'll race only to keep warm!

 

[RedheadDane]

Nobody will technically win the stage so I believe all prize money goes to charity. They'll race only to keep warm!

Your telling me they'll complete the final lap at race speed for shits and giggles?
I'm having a hard time believing that...

What happened to the "compete final lap at race speed"?

No updates about change of plans...

 

[Rob5091]

PCS says they stopped at the finish so no lap for fun.

 

[RedheadDane]

PCS says they stopped at the finish so no lap for fun.

Yeah, no idea why they didn't inform anyone of this change.

I'm assuming it was a change, because if it had actually been the plan all the time, surely they could have just not ridden at all.

 

[Lequack]

Wait so they neutralized the stage because of some warm rain? This is a real slap in the face to all the European races, especially the Belgian classics.

 

[RedheadDane]

Wait so they neutralized the stage because of some warm rain? This is a real slap in the face to all the European races, especially the Belgian classics.

From what I understand, because it rains so rarely, the roads get really slippery - due to residue oil and dust - when it does rain.
What I don't understand is why they said they'd race for the stage win, but with the times being settled, but then sudden... didn't. I'm hoping it was the riders who told the organisers than none of them really fancied racing for the stage win.

 

[Lequack]

This race just gets worse every year it seems. I remember it being a WT race at some point as well. It's not like Turkey doesn't have the terrain for a great varied racing, I'm not talking Alpine climbs or something, but don't just make it UAE Tour.

 

[RedheadDane]

This race just gets worse every year it seems. I remember it being a WT race at some point, and more varied stages. Now it's just UAE Tour 2.0.

It lost WT status because no WT teams wanted to ride.