Bad luck strikes again for Belletti. He falls in the sprint, but tests rule out fractures

56º Presidential Tour of Turkey
Etapa 4: Alanya – Kemer (184.4 km)

Bad luck, bad luck, damn bad luck. Everything passes in the background, the chronicle of the stage becomes superfluous and useless, we are not interested in knowing who won and who lost: our attention and our concern are all for the condition of our Manuel Belletti, involved in the bad fall that has disfigured the final sprint of the fourth stage at Tour of Turkey (final victory, once again, for Mark Cavendish).

The rider of Eolo-Kometa, after the good work of his teammates, was playing his chances in the sprint when a maxi fall triggered by a rider’s skidding made him fall heavily on the asphalt. Belletti, who was on his way back after his fall at Tirreno-Adriatico, was taken to hospital for checks: fractures have been ruled out.

Tomorrow the Tour of Turkey continues with the fifth stage: 160.3 kilometres from Kemer to Göğübeli / Elmali, with an uphill finish. It is likely to be decisive for the general classification.

 Fran Contador: “About today’s stage I can only say that the team did a fantastic job, all day together in the peloton, and even in the final kilometres they worked to put Belletti in the best position for the sprint. Unfortunately the final metres saw that nasty crash that involved Manuel: the important thing is that nothing is broken. Now we’ll see how things develop over the next few hours. Of course it’s a pity because Belletti is a very important rider for us. We hope he recovers immediately”.

[ Yücel Yüksek / Presidential Tour of Turkey]