56th Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (2.Pro) Stage 1: Konya>>Konya (72.4km)
Belgian Sean De Bie and northern neighbor Ivar Slik got away but not too far, giving the peloton a good target. In the last 20 km, Alpecin-Fenix and Israël Start-Up, Uno-X, and the wolfpack of Deceuninck-Quickstep stepped up and got the escapee’s back. At 2 km from the finish line, a fall by some riders caused disruption, and also a bit later in a corner at the last kilometer, a rider at the front also slipped out of his pedal, which disrupted the sprint even more. There were gaps, Cavendish was hampered in his stride and too late to get to the front. Halvorsen worked his way out of the pack and seemed on his way to victory, but De Kleijn crossed the line next to him…he got it by a hairline which showed on the finish photo!! Today another sprinter stage is expected
We had Irish riders at the start with Cormac McGeough from the Wildlife Generation Pro Cycling Team, and Jesse Ewart from the USA/CanadianTeam Sapura Continental Cycling Team…they both finished save in the sprinting bunch…
