(Presidential) Cycling Tour of Turkey [April 11th-April18th 2021]

[BlueRoads]

It this a lesser race?

Of course not, Álvaro is starting.
Along come Mark Cavendish and Fabio Jakobsen! So maybe we will see a small wonder here either way, although I would probably not have taken three sprinters. But despite critisizing some teams, I would never scrutinize DQS's tactics... so I'm sure it's a great decision which will play out just as nicely for them as the one to go with Bennett and Cavendish for Scheldeprijs.
Jasper Philipsen may profit and become the big winner here. Or André Greipel... ?

Also on the startlist is the next star-teenager Andrii Ponomar. Javier Romo will start as well and you can be sure that Michel Giesselmann and Per Münstermann from SKS Sauerland will sign for Bora soon.

Speaking of Bora, Felix Großschartner won the 2019 edition. (Evenepoel got 4th.) Who will be the next boss? Among those eight stages there's one mountainous one, and it looks like this:

It's even televised, so I'm hoping for many Hodeg wins first and beautiful coastal pictures in second place.

 

[Lequack]

Shame that they didn't include the finishing climb of 2019 when Remco came close to winning.

 

[search]

looks actually like a more interesting start list than during those final WT years. I like the balance of big and small squads, especially as those World Tour ones are fairly heavy on sprinters (or Kazakhs ), leaving the GC wide open

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

2019 edition was WT, since it has lost that status.

I see Kevin Rivera is on the startlist, will this climber extraordinaire finally be able to finish a climbing stage on European soil within 10 minutes of the winner?

Shame that they didn't include the finishing climb of 2019 when Remco came close to winning.

Him not winning was what lead to the "he's too heavy" statement by Lefevere. There was some controversy because of that, but Remco did lose a few kg, and went on to win Baloise Belgium Tour, a stage in Adriatica Ionica, San Sebastian and the EU TT a few months later. I'm still not sure he lost because of his weight, or because of his inexperience, trying to attack from too far, while Conti, Grossschartner and Kudus simply let him dangle for a bit.

 

[search]

I see Kevin Rivera is on the startlist, will this climber extraordinaire finally be able to finish a climbing stage on European soil within 10 minutes of the winner?

he won this Sibiu Tour MTF in 2019

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

he won this Sibiu Tour MTF in 2019

Since he won it, it obviously doesn't count, since it is impossible not to finish within 10 minutes of the winner, when you are the winner yourself.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

I hope to see Kudus being back at top level. We'll also get to enjoy the likes of the legendary Mustafa Sayar, Aranburu and Sevilla, Visconti, Modolo, Rolland, Luca Mozzato and Gautier, former cross-county skier Martí Vigo, the Polish champion Stanisław Aniołkowski, Andrea Peron and Umberto Poli and Jetse Bol among others.

This can only turn out to be an epic race! And if we're lucky, Iljo Keisse will be giving Carlton Kirby multiple mouthgasms.

On the negative startlist we have Andrea Guardini and Jakub Mareczko.

 

[search]

I see Celano will be around as well. Very nice!

 

[Mayomaniac]

Celano will win this bike race (I'm only half joking). I hope that Zoccarato will try something n the hillier stages.

The Sayar thing reminds me of the fact that there's a well known turkish ancient history and archeology professor called Mustafa Sayar. Imagine my face when I heard that Mustafa Sayar was invited to a conference.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

I see Kevin Rivera is on the startlist, will this climber extraordinaire finally be able to finish a climbing stage on European soil within 10 minutes of the winner?

Next time he races on European soil, we might find out, but that is nothing to do with this race.

 

[WKA311]

Hoping for some Lars Kulbe Top 10s in the sprints.

Very cool and open startlist. A lot of youngsters and 2nd/3rd tiers that will fight it out.

Wouln't have believed if anoyone had said a year ago that we would be getting a race that sees a Greipel/Cav sprint duel and a Sayar/Mamykin "random climbers who dissapeared somewhere" showdown.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Next time he races on European soil, we might find out, but that is nothing to do with this race.

Quite right... brainfart on my part.

 

[RedheadDane]

Next time he races on European soil, we might find out, but that is nothing to do with this race.

What about the parts of this race that's on European soil? Or... technically - of course - on European asphalt.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

24-4-2012 NEVER FORGET

 

[Netserk]

What about the parts of this race that's on European soil? Or... technically - of course - on European asphalt.

It's exclusively in Asia this year.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Is Gabrovski riding? His mutant attack in 2012 is one of my favorite cycling moments of all time.

 

[search]

Is Gabrovski riding? His mutant attack in 2012 is one of my favorite cycling moments of all time.

unfortunately not, he is a truck driver now

but in a couple of years...

(all pictures from his public Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ivailo.gabrovski )

 

[Mayomaniac]

unfortunately not, he is a truck driver now

but in a couple of years...

(all pictures from his public Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ivailo.gabrovski )

Wheren't there some pictures of Sayar working as a Pizza delivery guy during his ban?

 

[Forever The Best]

Wheren't there some pictures of Sayar working as a Pizza delivery guy during his ban?

Yes.

https://twitter.com/x/status/462171701124825089

View: https://twitter.com/tourdejose/status/462171701124825089


Uninspiring route. Pretty much the same as some previous years. And please don't visit the official website if you don't want to see the face of HWSNBN ( I hope people are aware who I'm talking about ).

 

[will-10]

Every year I look for Gabrovski on the startlist. Those were the days

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Tour of Turkey. The race that turns superstars into truck drivers and pizza delivery guys.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Every year I look for Gabrovski on the startlist. Those were the days

Salcano-Sakarya at least have Mustafa Sayar to give us a taste of the glory days of Törku-SekerSpor. He only did the delivery job while he was banned. They should have gone to the Volta a Portugal, what halcyon days hey could have been. It was 2015 when he returned. You could have had Törku-SekerSpor vs. Funvic after they did the hilarious stuff with Dani Díaz and Alex Diniz in San Luís vs. Tabriz Petrochemical Team with Pourseyedi at the peak of his powers vs. Pishgaman Yazd with Rahim Emami vs. W52 with César Veloso at his peak (sadly too early for Balarcón)... sadly Jimmi "Mr 63%" Briceño wasn't quite out of his suspension by that point, but 2016 he could join them, along with Foliforov and Firsanov with RusVelo.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Tour of Turkey. The race that turns superstars into truck drivers and pizza delivery guys.

They just don't want to spend time with their families. Take a look at Gabrovski, he's much more relaxed around his truck.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Salcano-Sakarya at least have Mustafa Sayar to give us a taste of the glory days of Törku-SekerSpor. He only did the delivery job while he was banned. They should have gone to the Volta a Portugal, what halcyon days hey could have been. It was 2015 when he returned. You could have had Törku-SekerSpor vs. Funvic after they did the hilarious stuff with Dani Díaz and Alex Diniz in San Luís vs. Tabriz Petrochemical Team with Pourseyedi at the peak of his powers vs. Pishgaman Yazd with Rahim Emami vs. W52 with César Veloso at his peak (sadly too early for Balarcón)... sadly Jimmi "Mr 63%" Briceño wasn't quite out of his suspension by that point, but 2016 he could join them, along with Foliforov and Firsanov with RusVelo.

Just 13 more moths and Najar will be allowed to race again, get him to the Volta!

 

[KZD]

It would have been a good race for Evenepoel to put a few kilometers in his legs before the Giro but it seems that he is pretty confident. At least we will have Jakobsen whose return will be quite interesting to follow.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Cav to win 6 stages.