Tour of Turkey 2015, Stage 7: Mark Cavendish sprints to victory

by Steve Thomas

It was a stage that had all of the potential to make a last-minute difference to the overall standings in this year’s Tour of Turkey, but ultimately it was destined to be a race for the sprinters.

Along the road between Selçuk and Izmir were two categorized climbs, the first a drawn out second-category climb, and the second a first-category twister that summitted 25 km from the finish line.

From here on, it was a long and fast downhill followed by a very flat and fast final 10 km to the line, opening up opportunity for those wishing to challenge for the overall, as Christian Meier told us on the start line: “Yesterday was a tough finish, both myself and Cam [Meyer] were trying to have a go on the final climb, but they went so fast that it was impossible. Today, it could be open to a breakaway going clear on that climb, and possibly staying away. MTN have been riding so hard on the climbs to get rid of Cav, which could open things up.”

For much of the stage, a three-man breakaway group had been off the front, but on the lower slopes of the final climb, the pressure went on and they were reeled in.

This was where the elastic in the peloton was most stretched, but it just didn’t come early enough to open up any serious gaps, and it was all out for the finish from there.

Having had Nicola Ruffoni podium a few times in the race, the Bardiani CSF team rode in with a sense of purpose, and they were at the head of affairs coming into the final kilometres, although it was never going to be enough to prevent Mark Cavendish from taking his third stage in the race, clearly showing that he is on schedule for the Grand Tours ahead.

Kristijan Durasek of Lampre-Merida remains in the overall lead with one final flat stage to go.

2015 Tour of Turkey, Stage 7 Top Three

1. Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep)
2. Andrea Piechele (Bardiani CSF)
3. Kristian Sbaragli (MTN-Qhubeka)