Presidential Tour Of Turkey 16 - 21 April 2019

[Robert5091]

From Twitter feed - https://twitter.com/tourofturkeyTUR
Ok, settle down - the stage's under way - 5 man break - Mauricio Moreira (Caja Rural), Lucas De Rossi (Delko), Ander Barrenetxea (Euskadi), Thimo Willems (Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Feritcan Samli (Turkey). Samli for the sprint prize, Willems for the KOM prize probably.
And not surprisingly,
Result of KOM at km 17.9: 1. Willems, 2. Moreira, 3. Barrenetxea
Which means, Thimo Willems extended his lead in the KOM competition. He'll get the red jersey again today in Bursa if he completes the stage within the time cut.

Some idea of the speed - after 16 km, the break's lead was over 8 minutes.

Update - Job done! https://twitter.com/tourofturkeyTUR/status/1119149633408626688

Thimo Willems has sat after taking the KOM points. He's back in the pack.

Then there were 4 ...

Update 2 - https://twitter.com/tourofturkeyTUR/status/1119131705736962050

Aleksandr Riabushenko of UAE Team Emirates is a non starter today. 116 riders at the start

Update 3 - Samli has sat up after the sprint - job done! - the three left in the break are 8 min 15 seconds in front of the peloton.

 

[Robert5091]

https://twitter.com/tourofturkeyTUR/status/1119157046996193281

It's cold but dry on the road from Balikesir to Bursa. The peloton is facing a headwind that will be a crosswind from the left side in the second half of the stage.

Today's stage - big right hand turn after 84.1km

 

[Libertine Seguros]

¡Venga Mauri!

 

[Robert5091]

TV commentators on TRT wrapped up warm. Looks very cloudy at the finish. Yes, TV coverage has started!

Kirby might have his work cut out today to make this exciting until we get to the run-in.

All of a sudden the gap's only 4 mins 20 secs.

 

[spalco]

Doesn't turkey have any *** mountains? Autobahn cycling is so tedious. What exactly is the point of this race?

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

Doesn't turkey have any **** mountains? Autobahn cycling is so tedious. What exactly is the point of this race?

It's training for us TV viewers for the first week of the TdF.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Z z z z z z z z z

 

[repre]

Design of this stage is simply horrific, only a fireworks finish could save this

 

[Robert5091]

Then there were two ...

Stage 7 at TdF was a real snooze fest so at least today is not 231 km.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

Doesn't turkey have any **** mountains? Autobahn cycling is so tedious. What exactly is the point of this race?

Loads. It was becoming a pretty good race for a few years, then it got the WT status, overstretched its budget, moved to October for a year, and is now basically rebuilding from the ground up so we're getting some absolute dreck as they stay close to the big metropoles. When it first went pro again in the late 2000s, it basically linked a bunch of coastal resorts showing off some scenery but not providing much interesting racing. Then they added mountains but had the problem of first Gabrovski and then Sayar resulting in a Portugal-like reputation. There was a great edition when Lotto and Caja Rural destroyed everybody in echelons a few years ago, but the last couple have been really disappointing. I had wanted the climb from tomorrow's stage to be included in the race back in the earlier days tbh, it's a really good climb, but in this race it's basically a disappointing "win one stage win the race" type of event, like Abu Dhabi or Langkawi have been with MTFs or Missouri or Bayern with the ITT.

 

[Simurgh]

Re:

Doesn't turkey have any **** mountains? Autobahn cycling is so tedious. What exactly is the point of this race?

Unfortunately for us, the race is usually just a stroll along the coastline. I suspect that the race would be a lot more fun, if it entered Anatolia for real. Or at least just went 20 km inland, instead of staying at the coastline. I mean, this terrain map shows the potential:

..but I guess that the Anatolian heartland aren't quite the tourist attraction.

 

[Robert5091]

For sale - one used, slighty damaged whiteboard ...

 

[tobydawq]

The group dynamic seems to be a bit off...

 

[repre]

Two clowns in the breakaway providing some fun

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

The group dynamic seems to be a bit off...

I dunno… they're riding-style seems very dynamic. Lot of attacking, for some reason…

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

The group dynamic seems to be a bit off...

I dunno… they're riding-style seems very dynamic. Lot of attacking, for some reason…

And sometimes they look like they're participating in a track sprint.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

Doesn't turkey have any **** mountains? Autobahn cycling is so tedious. What exactly is the point of this race?

Loads. It was becoming a pretty good race for a few years, then it got the WT status, overstretched its budget, moved to October for a year, and is now basically rebuilding from the ground up so we're getting some absolute dreck as they stay close to the big metropoles. When it first went pro again in the late 2000s, it basically linked a bunch of coastal resorts showing off some scenery but not providing much interesting racing. Then they added mountains but had the problem of first Gabrovski and then Sayar resulting in a Portugal-like reputation. There was a great edition when Lotto and Caja Rural destroyed everybody in echelons a few years ago, but the last couple have been really disappointing. I had wanted the climb from tomorrow's stage to be included in the race back in the earlier days tbh, it's a really good climb, but in this race it's basically a disappointing "win one stage win the race" type of event, like Abu Dhabi or Langkawi have been with MTFs or Missouri or Bayern with the ITT.

Great point. Also though, the quality of some mountain roads in the country is bad. There are many goat tracks in many parts of country and there are lots of autobahns as well. I remember a year or so ago trying to design a 21 day Tour of Turkey but there were not that many asphalted major climbs even in the western part of the country.
PS:I hope they use Spil Mountain Pass in a future time. You can make a great mountain stage around İzmir/Manisa area especially coming from Aydın.

 

[Robert5091]

Right, left turns just before last km could be tricky.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

GC

 

[Robert5091]

JJ Lobato ... close but no cigar. Chapeau Ewan - had, just, the legs to get the win.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Evenepoel crashed in the final 2k. Is there a 3k rule?

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

Evenepoel crashed in the final 2k. Is there a 3k rule?

I think so. There was two days ago, and there was a steeper uphill finish there.

 

[yaco]

Ewan did what he should do in this type of finish - This will relieve pressure from his shoulders.

 

[Lequack]

Who designs these routes that they ride a lot of kms on the highways? We've seen it a lot in the desert races but I always though maybe they just don't have alternate routes. But Turkey should have.

 

[Salvarani]

Re: Re:

Evenepoel crashed in the final 2k. Is there a 3k rule?

I think so. There was two days ago, and there was a steeper uphill finish there.

Yup, got the same time as first group.

He seems very prone to crashes. Even if its bad luck it has happened in every race he has been in now? Cant surely be just bad luck at this point. Need to improve bike handling and get more experience riding in a peloton, which you can only get from racing I guess. Hopefully he will not suffer a serious crash and injure himself bad.