In Turkey, return to the race of the first great joys
Tour of Antalya
Antalya (Turkey), from 21 to 24 February
Michel Ries, Juan Pedro López, Stefano Oldani, Juan Camacho, Diego Pablo Sevilla and Michele Gazzoli are the six riders chosen by the management staff to defend, under the direction of Jesús Hernández and Dario Andriotto, the colours of the Kometa Cycling Team in the Tour of Antalya powered by Akra, a race on Turkish soil that is part of the UCI Europa Tour. A young stage race that in its first edition, a year ago, provided the first joys for the continental structure of the Fundación Alberto Contador.
In the routes of Antalya the first successes of the team arrived, two partial victories with the signature of Matteo Moschetti, triumphs in the generals of the regularity and the young people (Moschetti and the Eritrean Awet Habtom, respectively) and a third place in the final classification, of the hand of the African cyclist. Successes that gave continuity to the leadership of the mountain that in the Tour de la Provence had obtained Diego Pablo Sevilla, the first podium of the team in his first year of life.
With such precedents, the ambitions are maximum for the second edition of the Tour of Antalya. The Kometa Cycling Team comes with the objective of fighting partial victories and obtain a great result in the final general classification. Opposite will be some of the best teams and riders in the professional continental category. The Belgian Corendon-Circus, the Israeli Israel Cycling Academy or the Italian Nippo Vini Fantini will be some of the opponents of this first great challenge of the team.
The Kometa Cycling Team comes with a versatile team, with riders for all terrains, with two names that aspire to make a good general and arrive rolled after interesting performances in tests with WorldTour sets, such as Juanpe López and Michel Ries; or a fast man like Michele Gazzoli, sixth in the last stage of the Vuelta a la Comunitat Valenciana. “The Vuelta a Murcia has left a good taste in my mouth, I got as far ahead as I could and I had good sensations; now it’s Antalya, where we’re really looking forward to it”, says López.
The Tour of Antalya takes place over four online days that will take place in nervous and winding terrain. The first stage will finish on a small steep slope and both the second and fourth stages also have some minor complications at the end. Although undoubtedly the most decisive day will be the third one, a not very long stage but that will have its finish line in a first category ascent, the one that leads to the ruins of Termessos, one of the main tourist attractions of the country and the region and member of the Gulluk Mountains National Park.
The stages.
21 February: Koprulu Canyon – Antalya (141 km).
22 February: Antalya – Antalya (111 km).
23 February: Perge – Termessos (91.8 km).
24 February: Side – Antalya (157 km).
(automatic translation, sorry for mistakes)
