Sixth’ for Albanese in another hard-fought Turkish epilogue
56th Presidential Tour of Turkey
Stage 8: Bodrum – Kusadasi (160.3 km)
Italian Vincenzo Albanese was again involved in the sprint that settled the final stage of an intense Tour of Turkey whose overall went to Spaniard José Manuel Díaz. Albanese finished sixth in a sprint in which Mark Cavendish added his fourth partial success in the Turkish event. It is Alba’s third top-ten in a race in which EOLO-KOMETA has not missed its daily appointment with the fight. Luca Wackermann, 16th, was the best overall.
This Sunday was of course no exception to the team’s firm commitment to put up a fight and fight for the victory. The eighth and final stage was conditioned by the second advantage that separated José Manuel Díaz from Australian Jay Vine and by the existence of bonuses. From the start, there was a great battle between the teams to neutralise the bonus for an early intermediate sprint.
The pulse set the pace, a high speed that was reflected in the advance with which the stage ended, for the rest of the day while several breakaway attempts followed one after the other. The first consistent breakaway came with Samuele Rivi as the protagonist. The Italian started a movement of ten riders that never managed more than two minutes of margin. Behind, and more for a mountain pass near the finish line, there was a lot of interest.
After the end of that breakaway, at the base of the climb, the reaction came from Francesco Gavazzi who jumped after South African Willy Smit, a move that would give way to another breakaway with implications in the general classification that remained in the lead until the end. But the sprinters had passed the break, although the group had lost many units, and the stakes for a mass sprint were high. Albanese was in the fight again.
Francesco Gavazzi: “Collectively we have done a great job every stage, it is important to move as a team, to work together for the goals of the day. We have grown day by day, despite the bad luck of Manuel, who could have fought for the win in the last stages. On a personal level, a stage race like this has been missing from my legs for more than a year. It is fundamental for the growth of my condition, day after day I felt better and better. I look forward with great enthusiasm to the upcoming events. My best condition is coming at the right time”.
Vincenzo Albanese: “For us, every day was a new opportunity and although the absence of Manuel Belletti changed our plans, we adapted and continued in the fight in search of a goal. Today was like that, in line with the previous days. Here at the end there are much purer sprinters and it is something that is noticeable in the last metres. I think the team did a great job in Turkey. It has always worked well, but we are on an increasing trend. In Turkey we made a big step forward. We are much more of a team. We wish the team-mates who will be at the Tour of the Alps from Monday onwards the best of luck”.
[ Yücel Yüksek / Presidential Tour of Turkey (1, 3)]
[ Víctor Aguado (2)]
