Lonardi, on the podium in the Tour of Turkey final stage

Third place for Giovanni Lonardi in the demanding sprint in Sultanahmet, the final stage of the Tour of Turkey, thanks once again to the perfect work of his teammates until almost the last kilometre. EOLO KOMETA thus finishes the season with a new podium and a great taste in the mouth for the performance in the eight days of Turkey.

This final stage had little history, with a breakaway of three riders always controlled by the leader’s team and a circuit through Istanbul that kept the whole peloton compact, neutralising Vine (UAE), the last of the protagonists, about 15 kilometres from the finish line. All the EOLO KOMETA riders worked to guide and protect Lonardi: Simone Bevilacqua, Andrea Pietrobon, David Martin and in those last 2 kilometres a magnificent Mirco Maestri left the sprinter just behind Philipsen and Bol (Astana).

The cobblestones, the climb and the turns on the way up to Sultanahmet stretched out the sprint, which Lonardi started third and reached the finish line in the same position, with Philipsen’s fourth victory. The Tour of Turkey leaves great moments with a total of two podiums, two top-5 and one top-10 for Lonardi demonstrating the high level in the mass finishes.

Giovanni Lonardi: “It was a sprint finish, aware from this morning that we had to be very well positioned for the final part, for the last cobble section and turns. The plan went perfectly, with the support of all the team-mates. Philipsen and Bol were stronger than me, but we still managed to finish third and I think it’s an excellent way to end the season”.