The opening stage of the Tour of Turkey would see the expected mass sprint finish. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung fast man, Theo Bos, would duel it out with the other sprinters to take 5th on the stage for our African team.
The early break of 5 riders honestly never stood much of a chance on today’s 140km flat stage and were caught with 20km to go. A nice wide road for the final 20km saw just about every team trying to organise their sprint trains at the head of the race. The battle for position was intense and at times a bit scrappy.
Lotto-Soudal and Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung were probably the 2 most prominent teams at the head of the race for the final 20km while Etixx-QuickStep also did well to keep their riders grouped together. The final 5km was rather disorganised with sprinters losing their leadout men all over the place. Etixx-QuickStep had 3 riders hit the final km in the lead and this was the defining factor as Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) took the victory.
Caleb Ewan (Orica-Greenedge) was 2nd with Niccola Ruffoni (Bardiani) in 3rd. Team MTN-Qhubeka p/b Samsung would have 5 riders trying to position Theo in the final and all was going according to plan until the final km when some bumping and barging saw our boys lose each other’s wheels somewhat. Nevertheless Theo was still quick enough to secure 5th place.
Theo Bos – Rider
J.P Heynderickx – Sport Director